THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


DAYS  OF  THE  DANDIES 


MRS.  JORDAN 


VOLUME  I 


ATHEN^UM  PRESS 

PUBLISHERS  NEW  YORK 


MRS.  JORDAN 


Mrs.  Jordan 

Etched  by  G.  Meunier,  from  the  painting  by  Romney 


Librar 


506 

3%Bc3 

1*30 
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PREFACE 

PREFACES  are  seldom  honoured  with  much 
attention.  They  are  commonly  passed  over  until 
curiosity  is  completely  gratified  by  the  contents  of 
the  work.  But  a  few  lines,  in  which  an  author 
must  speak  of  himself,  may,  at  a  moment  of 
leisure,  attract  the  reader's  notice;  and  certainly 
should  never  detain  it  long.  I  have  merely  to  lay 
before  him  the  reasons  that  induced  me  to  com- 
pose the  work  now  published. 

From  the  death  of  Mrs.  Jordan  up  to  the  year 
1824,  inclusive,  a  sort  of  sullen  and  interrupted 
annoyance  occasionally  recalled  the  public  mind 
to  the  disappointment  as  to  Mrs.  Jordan's  circum- 
stances, and  the  injury  sustained  by  her  creditors 
and  some  members  of  her  family.  Having  had 
the  pleasure  of  Mrs.  Jordan's  personal  acquaint- 
ance for  some  years,  and  having  paid  unwearied 
attention  to  her  professional  exertions  from  their 
very  commencement  in  London,  it  was  not,  per- 
haps, too  extravagant  a  thought  that  I  might  con- 


viii  PREFACE 

struct  a  narrative,  not  without  attraction  of  two 
kinds,  —  that  should  exhibit  a  more  perfect  picture 
of  her  than  had  been  given  while  she  occupied  the 
stage,  and  a  truer  representation  of  her  private  life 
than  other  writers  had  yet  been  enabled  to  supply. 
As  to  the  stage  on  which  she  acted,  I  had  long 
been  conversant  with  its  history,  —  the  inquiries 
essential  to  my  "Life  of  Mr.  Kemble"  had  ex- 
tended beyond  himself,  and  the  results  were  either 
present  to  my  mind,  or  were  of  easy  reference  in 
the  great  mass  of  theatrical  documents  around  me. 
As  to  her  last  moments,  Sir  Jonah  Harrington,  in 
a  work  published  in  1827,  had  given  such  intelli- 
gence as  he  obtained  upon  the  spot,  and  spoken 
with  reserve  on  some  other  points  of  her  history 
hardly  less  interesting.  Certain  private  friends, 
for  whom  I  entertain  entire  respect,  here  offered 
to  my  use  a  very  interesting  portion  of  Mrs.  Jor- 
dan's correspondence,  throwing  a  steady  light 
upon  the  most  momentous  incidents  in  her  private 
life.  As  they  were  eminently  calculated  to  settle, 
by  their  authority,  everything  that  had  been 
questioned,  and  showed  her  candour  and  affection 
equal  at  least  to  the  warmest  wishes  of  her  friends, 
I  accepted  them  with  pride  and  pleasure.  Per- 
mitted to  use  the  very  documents  themselves, 


PREFACE  ix 

I  have  printed  them  exactly  from  the  originals  in 
her  own  handwriting.  They  are  unstudied  compo- 
sitions, but  they  all  sprung  warm  from  the  heart, 
and,  like  her  acting,  speak  its  true  and  impas- 
sioned language. 

Her  acting,  indeed,  was  heart  in  action,  and  its 
pulsations  vibrated  to  the  extremities  of  its  the- 
atrical habitation.  The  fault  of  the  great  bulk  of 
her  imitators,  or  contemporaries,  was  that  they 
never  seemed  under  the  actual  influence  of  a  pas- 
sion, but  to  play  from  the  recollection  of  it.  They 
described  the  sensations,  —  the  vice  of  French 
tragedy.  But  this  is  not  the  place  for  disquisition. 
I  therefore  refer  the  reader  to  my  work  for  every 
satisfaction  of  this  sort,  and  conclude  with  a  hope 
that  what  I  have  executed  with  great  zeal  and 
unwearied  application  may  be  fortunate  enough  to 
amuse  his  leisure,  and  place  Mrs.  Jordan  herself, 
and  persons  connected  with  her  in  life,  in  the  true 
relative  positions,  either  as  to  the  present  age  or 
posterity.  j.  B. 

60  Warren  Street,  Fitzroy  Square, 
November,  f8jo. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

What  Is  to  Be  Expected  in  These  Memoirs  —  Mrs.  Jor- 
dan's Family  Theatrical  —  Irregularity  Commonly  Pro- 
gressive —  Mrs.  Bland  —  Her  Story  —  Her  Husband  — 
Her  Sisters  —  Ryder  First  Employs  the  Talent  of  Miss 
Francis  —  Daly's  "Duenna"  —  Sketch  of  His  Character 
as  a  Man  and  a  Manager  —  Lieut.  Charles  Doyne  Pro- 
poses Marriage  to  Miss  Francis  —  After  Some  Delibera- 
tion His  Proposals  Are  Declined;  by  Whose  Advice 
in  Particular  —  Ireland  a  Good  School  of  Acting  — 
Mrs.  Abington  —  Miss  Francis  as  an  Actress,  and  Her 
Own  Notion  of  Her  Powers  —  Compared  with  Mrs. 
Abington 

CHAPTER   II. 

Miss  Francis  Arrives  at  Leeds  in  July,  1782  —  Her  Interview 
with  Tate  Wilkinson  —  His  Determination  in  Her  Favour 
—  Her  First  Appearance  Was  in  Tragedy,  in  the  Part  of 
Calista — Her  Reception  —  "The  Greenwood  Laddie," 
and  Its  Effect  — Tate  Prophesies  That  She  Will  Reach 
the  Summit  —  Change  of  Name  at  York,  the  Choice  of 
One  on  That  Occasion  —  Her  Aunt,  Miss  Phillips,  Dan- 
gerously 111  at  York,  Makes  Her  Niece  Her  Heir — The 
Application  of  Mrs.  Jordan  When  a  Young  Actress  — 
Mr.  William  Smith  Sees  Her  in  the  Race  Week  —  She 


xii  CONTENTS 

PACK 

Acted  Rutland  and  the  Romp  before  Him  —  Interests 
Himself  Warmly  about  Her  —  She  Acts  Arionelli  —  Mr. 
Knight  —  Lady  Leake  —  Swan,  the  Critic,  Teaches  Mrs. 
Jordan  Zara  —  Sheffield,  an  Alarm  —  The  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Rivals  —  Mrs.  Smith,  and  Her 
March  Extraordinary 21 

CHAPTER    III. 

The  Year  1783  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Amazing  Popularity  in  the 
Character  of  William,  in  "  Rosina  "  —  Mrs.  Brooke  the 
Authoress  —  Her  Husband,  Curate  to  Wilkinson's  Father 
at  the  Savoy  —  The  King's  Chaplain  Transported  — 
Garrick's  Officious  Meddling  —  Mrs.  Baddeley  at  York  — 
A  Lesson  to  Our  Heroine  of  Negative  Instruction  —  Mrs. 
Mills,  Fawcett's  First  Wife,  an  Example  of  Application  to 
Her  —  The  Art  of  Mortifying  a  Scenic  Rival  —  Mrs. 
Ward,  a  Great  Professor  —  Mrs.  Brown,  the  Wife  of 
Harlequin  Brown,  Her  "  Country  Girl "  —  Miss  Wilkin- 
son, afterward  Mrs.  Mountain — Season  of  1785,  the 
Last  of  Mrs.  Jordan  as  a  Member  of  the  York  Company 

—  An  Instance  of  Her  Caprice  —  Sees  Mrs.  Yates  as  Mar- 
garet of  Anjou  —  Dick  Yates's  Opinion  of  Mrs.  Jordan 

—  Mrs.  Siddons  Also  for  Rustication  —  Mrs.  Robinson, 
the  Prophetess  —  Takes  Leave  of  Yorkshire  in  the  "  Poor 
Soldier,"  to  Proceed  to  London 43 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Ascendency  of  Mrs.  Siddons  —  Struggle  of  Covent  Gar- 
den —  Mrs.  Abington  —  Mr.  Henderson  —  Miss  Farren 
Compared  with  the  Former  Abington  —  The  Hopes  En- 
tertained that  the  "Country  Girl"  might  Revive  the 
Train  of  Comedy  —  Within  and  Without-door  Talk  of 
Her — Her  First  Appearance,  on  the  i8th  of  October, 
1785 — Mrs.  Inchbald's  Opinion  of  Her — Fulness  and 
Comic  Richness  of  Tone  not  Provincialism  —  Excited 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

Unbounded  Laughter — Her  Male  Figure  —  Her  Letter 
Scene  —  About  Nineteen,  the  Age  of  Miss  Peggy  — 
Henderson  —  Mr.  Harris  —  Mrs.  Inchbald  —  Her  Step- 
son and  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Her  Viola,  in  "  Twelfth  Night," 
Particularly  Examined  —  Barbarous  Curtailments  of  the 
Play  —  Viola  Succeeded  by  Imogen  —  Mrs.  Clive  Dies  — 
Compared,  in  Some  Points,  with  Mrs.  Jordan  —  The 
'/Heiress"  Had  No  Part  for  Mrs.  Jordan  — "She 
Would  and  She  Would  Not,"  Her  Hypolita  — The 
"  Irish  Widow,"  on  Her  Benefit  Night  —  Now,  Certainly, 
the  Great  Support  of  the  Theatre 62 

CHAPTER   V. 

In  the  Recess  Thinks  of  Her  Old  Friends  in  Yorkshire  — 
Difference  of  Nine  Months  —  Odd  Conjuncture  —  Mrs. 
Robinson,  the  Prophetess  —  Return  to  Leeds  of  Mrs. 
Jordan  on  the  Night  of  That  Lady's  Benefit  —  Acts  a 
Single  Night,  Now  Dividing  the  House  —  Mrs.  Jordan  at 
Edinburgh  —  The  "  Belle's  Stratagem  "  —  Her  Own 
Epilogue,  Its  Point  —  Death  of  Mrs.  Baddeley  at  This 
Juncture  —  Mrs.  Jordan  Succeeds  Mrs.  Siddons  at  Hull 
and  Wakefield  —  General  Burgoyne  Translates  "  Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion"  for  Drury,  in  1786,  and  Mrs.  Jordan 
Accepts  Matilda  —  Death  of  Princess  Amelia  Closes  the 
Theatres  — H.  R.  H.'s  Clock,  by  Tompion  — The  Royal 
Vault  —  A  Friend  of  the  Author's  Passes  the  Night  in 
It  —  His  Feelings  Compared  with  Juliet's  Imagination  — 
Dodsley's  "  Cleone,"  and  Mrs.  Siddons  — "  Love  for 
Love,"  and  the  Miss  Prue  of  Jordan  —  Congreve  and 
His  Preferments  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Roxalana  .  .  .  83 

CHAPTER  VI. 

King's  Management  —  Mrs.  Jordan  in  the  Summer  of  1787 
—  Miss  Farren,  Too,  in  Yorkshire,  Distinguishes  Fawcett, 
Since  a  Truly  Original  Actor  —  Kemble  Alters  the  "  Pil- 


xiv  CONTENTS 

FAGZ 

grim"  for  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Her  Juletta  —  The  Character 
Describes  Itself — Beautiful  Passages  —  Madness  Ex- 
hibited Frequently  on  the  Stage  —  "The  New  Peerage" 

—  Old  Macklin  Remembered  When  He  Had  Forgotten 
Shylock  —  Interesting   Appeal    of    the    Veteran  —  New 
Plays  by  Miss  Lee  and  Captain  Jephson  —  Smith  Did 
Not  Act  Much  with  Mrs.  Jordan  —  His  Last  Benefit  — 
Anecdote  of  Him  when  at   Eton  —  His   Intimacy  with 
Garrick  —  His  Comedy  —  Lewis  and  Bensley  Compared 
with  Him  as  Gentlemen  —  Abington  and  Farren  —  Palmer 
Returns  to  His  Viola  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Sir  Harry  Wildair 

—  Theatrical  Politics  —  King's  Abdication       .        .        .  104 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Kemble's  Management  from  October,  1788  — The  "Panel," 
for  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Beatrice  and  Her  Gown  —  Her  Per- 
formance in  the  "  Confederacy  "  —  Her  Rosalind  Some- 
what Divides  the  Town  — Whether  the  Sprightliness  or 
the  Sensibility  Should  Predominate  ?  —  Perhaps  the 
Truer  Rosalind,  if  Shakespeare  Were  to  Decide  —  Her 
Nell,  in  the  "  Devil  to  Pay  "  —  Moody,  in  Jobson  —  Mrs. 
Jordan's  Opinion  of  Her  Own  Art  —  Her  Aspiration  after 
the  Fine  Lady  —  Mr.  Cumberland  Writes  for  Mrs.  Jordan 
—  His  Comedy  of  the  "  Impostors  "  a  Hurried  Composi- 
tion while  Writing  "  Calvary  "  —  The  "  Farmhouse,"  Mrs. 
Jordan's  Country  Lass  —  In  the  Summer  of  1789,  Edwin 
Engaged  Her  at  Richmond  —  The  King's  Illness  Com- 
menced at  Cheltenham  when  Mrs.  Jordan  was  There  — 
The  Question  of  the  Regency  —  Display  of  Burke  —  His 
Vehement  Dexterity  —  King's  Recovery,  Sympathy  of 
the  Stage  —  Duel  between  the  Duke  of  York  and  Colonel 
Lennox  —  The  Drawing-room  —  The  Opera  House  Des- 
troyed by  Fire —  The  French  Revolution  .  .  .  132 


CONTENTS  xv 

PAGB 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Summer  of  1789  —  Tate  Wilkinson's  Benefit  at  Leeds, 
Mrs.  Jordan  Arrives  to  Act  for  Him  —  The  Yorkshire 
Prudery  —  Mrs.  Jordan  at  Harrowgate  on  Her  Way  to 
Join  Mr.  Jackson  at  Edinburgh  —  Mrs.  Siddons  at  York 

—  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots  —  Mrs.  Fawcett's  Compliment 
to  Her  —  Mrs.  Siddons  Prefers  to  Act  in  London,  and 
Why  —  Mrs.  Jordan  and  Miss  Farren  in  the  Same  Places 

—  The  Prince  of  Wales  —  Miss  Catley's  Death  — The 
"  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona  "  Idly  Revived  —  Mrs.  Jor- 
dan's First  Appearance  at  Drury  Lane  This  Season,  so 
Late   as   February,    1790  —  Mr.   Kemble   Engages   Her 
Brother,  Bland — He  Acts   Sebastian  to   Her  Viola  — 
Mrs.  Behn's  "  Rover "  Altered  by  Mr.  Kemble  —  Jordan 
and  Woffington  in   Hellena  —  Young  Bannister — His 
Character    through    Life  —  Morris's    "  Adventurers  "  — 
Mrs.  Jordan's  Little  Pickle  —  The  "  Spoil'd  Child  "  Called 
Her  Own,  Perhaps  Bickerstaff's  —  The  "  Intriguing  Cham- 
bermaid "  —  "  Better  Late  than   Never  "  —  Mrs.    Jordan 
the   Heroine  —  Munden   Comes  to  Town  from  Chester 

—  Mrs.  Jordan  Plays  Celia  in  the  "Humourous   Lieu- 
tenant "  of  Fletcher  —  Beauties  of  That  Character  —  Her 
Alarming  Epilogue  by  Harry  Bunbury  —  Summer  of  1791, 

a  Journey  to  York  —  Kemble  vice  Jordan         .        .        .  155 

CHAPTER   IX. 

Doctor  Woolcot  Does  Justice  to  Mrs.  Jordan  —  The  Drury 
Lane  Company  Remove  to  the  Opera  House  —  The 
Opening  Laugh  at  Their  Difficulties  —  Additional  Prices 
Carried  —  Fawcett's  Arrival  in  London  with  His  Wife  — 
Both  Engaged  by  Mr.  Harris  —  Mrs.  Jordan  and  Mr. 
Kemble  —  The  Press  Accuses  the  Actress  of  Deserting 
Her  Duty  — Proof  to  the  Contrary  — The  Declared  Ad- 
miration of  a  Royal  Duke  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Family  —  Mr. 
Ford  Made  Pleas  for  Attacking  Her  —  She  Appeals  to 


xvi  CONTENTS 

PACK 

the  Public  by  Letter  —  Finding  that  She  Was,  Notwith- 
standing, Still  Persecuted,  She  Addresses  the  Audience 
in  Person,  and  Remains  Absolute  Mistress  of  the  Field 

—  "  Cymon "    Revived    with    Great    Splendour  —  The 
Beauty  of  the  Cast  —  Kelly's  Hospitality  and  His  Guests 

—  The  "Village  Coquette,"  for  Mrs.  Jordan's  Night  — 
Richardson's  "  Fugitive"  Acted  by  Her  —  Miss  Herbert, 
in  That   Comedy,  Miss   Farren  —  Mrs.  Sheridan  Dies, 
Commemorated  by  Genius  —  Her  Epitaph  —  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  What  He  Thought  and  Said  of  Mrs.  Jordan 

—  Regret  That  She  Never  Sat  to  Him  —  Brings  Out  a 
Play  Called  "  Anna,"  against  the  Opinion  of  Kemble  — 
Fate  of   Her  Novelty  — Of  Mrs.  Siddons's  — Of  Miss 
Farren's  —  Mrs.    Jordan  in   Lady   Restless  —  Cumber- 
land's "  Armourer  " 188 

CHAPTER   X. 

History  of  Drury   Lane  Theatres  —  Their  Origin  in  the 
Cockpit,  a  Little  Before  the  Retirement  of  Shakespeare 

—  Destroyed  by  a  Mob  in  1617  —  The  Phoenix  Built  in 
the  Same  Spot  —  Its  Preservation  in  the  Great  Rebellion 

—  Rhodes,  the  Bookseller,  and  His  Two  Apprentices, 
Betterton  and  Kynaston  —  Obtains  a  License  First  for 
the  Phoenix,  and  Then  Joins  D'Avenant  in  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields  —  A  New  Theatre  Erected  by  Killigrew  in  Drury 
Lane  —  Opened  in  1662;  Burnt  Nine  Years  Afterward  — 
A  Church  Brief  Granted  on  This  Calamity  —  Sir  Chris- 
topher Wren  Builds  Once  More  upon  the  Old  Spot  — 
The  Advantages  of  His  Plan  Displayed  by  Colley  Cibber 

—  Apology  for  Its  Plainness  in  a  Prologue  and  Epilogue 
by  the  Great  Dryden,  Spoken  at  Its  Opening  in  1674  — 
Union  of  the  Two  Companies  in  Drury  Lane  Theatre  — 
Christopher  Rich,  Patentee — Silenced  by  the  Chamber- 
lain —  Patents  Dormant  —  Sir  Richard  Steele's  License 
to  Himself,  Wilks,  Booth,  and  Cibber  —  Mr.  Highmore 


CONTENTS  xvii 

PACK 

—  Mr.   Fleetwood  —  The   Illustrious   Garrick   Becomes 
Purchaser  with  Mr.  Lacy  —  Twenty  Years'  Splendour  of 
Old  Drury  —  On  the  Great  Actor's  Retirement,  Sheridan 
Succeeds  Him  —  At  Length  the  House  is  Taken  Down 

—  Author's  Regard   for  It,  and  Personal  Acquaintance 
with  Its  Merits  and  Its  Defects  —  Presages  on  Its  Fall    .  220 

CHAPTER   XI. 

The  Grand  National  Theatre  —  Description  of  It  —  Open- 
ing with  Sacred  Music  —  First  Play  Acted  on  the  2ist  of 
April  —  Innovations  of  Mr.  Kemble  in  "  Macbeth  "  — 
The  Bell  — The  Dagger  — The  Ghost  of  Banquo  — 
Musical  Witches  —  Charles  Kemble  —  Securities  from 
Fire  —  Reservoir  —  Iron  Curtain  —  Mere  Tricks  —  The 
Vanity  of  Speculative  Science  —  Mrs.  Jordan  not  Em- 
ployed—  Kemble  —  Miss  Farren  Does  the  Honours  — 
Fitzpatrick  —  G.  Colman  —  Mr.  Cumberland's  Comedy 
of  the  "Jew"  — The  Gratitude  of  Israel  —  Kemble's 
"Lodoiska" —  Three  Farces  Three  Days  Together  — 
Mrs.  Jordan  Acts  for  the  Widows  and  Orphans  Made 
on  the  1st  of  June  —  Three  Farces  Again,  and  for  Four 
Days  —  Harris  versus  Kemble  —  In  the  Summer,  John 
Bannister  at  Liverpool  —  Winter  of  1794-95  —  Mrs. 
Davenport  —  A  Shilling  Gallery  Put  Up  — "  Emilia 
Galotti "  at  Drury  —  "  Nobody  "  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Fright 

—  The  "  Rage  "  —  The  "  Wedding  Day  "  of  Mrs.  Inch- 
bald —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Portrait  Seen  Again  by  the  Author, 
Forty   Years   after   It   Was   Painted  —  Her   Helena  — 
"  Measure  for  Measure  "  —  Miss  Mellon  —  Mrs.  Coutts 

—  The  Duchess  —  Miss  Arne  —  "  Alexander  the  Great," 

a  Ballet 235 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Death  of  Parsons  —  His  Peculiar  Merits  —  Holland  and 
Powell  —  Spouting  Clubs  —  Political  Orators  —  Parsons 


xviii  CONTENTS 

FAGB 

and  the  Lion  —  The  "  Wheel  of  Fortune"  —  Madame 
d'Arblay —  Jerningham's  "Welsh  Heiress,"  Mrs.  Jordan 
in  Plinlimmon —  Drury  Attacking  Its  Own  Splendours  — 
Chaos  Umpire  in  the  Concern — "Seven  Ages"  for  Mrs. 
Siddons  —  "  First  Love,"  by  Cumberland ;  Sabina  Rosny, 
Mrs.  Jordan  —  Her  Enchanting  Effect  —  Some  Pleasing 
Recollections  —  Cumberland's  Opinion  of  Her  —  Nature 
to  Be  Upheld  by  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Winter  of  1795-96  — 
The  "  Dependent "  —  The  "  Rival  Queens  "  —  Kemble  in 
Alexander  —  Mrs.  Jordan  Confined  —  Miss  Decamp  in 
Columbine  —  Mrs.  Jordan  in  Fidelia,  Her  Power  upon 
Mr.  Kemble  —  His  Sense  of  Her  Acting  in  the  "  Plain 
Dealer"  —  Gives  It  to  the  Author  in  the  Words  of 
Sterne  —  The  "Iron  Chest,"  and  Its  Failure  —  Sheridan 
Wished  Mrs.  Jordan  in  That  Play  — "  Vortigern  "  Has 
That  Advantage  ;  She  Acts  Flavia  —  Ireland  — Chatter- 
ton —  Queen  Elizabeth,  Her  Little  Attention  to  Players 

—  Mrs.  Jordan   Speaks   Merry's   Epilogue — Poor  Ben- 
son's Death 263 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Mr.  Colman  and  the  Reopening  of  His  "Iron  Chest"  — 
Season  of  1796-97  —  The  Losses  of  Drury;  Parsons, 
Dodd  — The  Latter  Excellent  in  Old  Winterton  —  Con- 
trasted with  Fawcett  —  Wroughton  Appointed  Stage- 
manager —  Mrs.  Jordan  and  Her  Salary  —  Ballet  —  Miss 
Parissot  and  the  "  Triumph  of  Love  "  —  Madame  Hilligs- 
berg,  an  Atalanta  in  Running — Dowton  Recommended 
by  Cumberland  —  An  Admirer  Before  of  Mr.  Henderson 

—  Garrick's  Prejudice  —  Deficiencies  of  the  Company  — 
Revivals  —  Jephson's  "  Conspiracy  "  —  The  Force  of  Ridi- 
cule —  Miss  Farren  Contumacious  —  New  Comedy  Post- 
poned —  Miss    Farren's    Return    and    Triumph  —  Play 
Destroyed  —  The  "  Shipwreck  "  —  The  Operatic  "  Honey- 
moon "  —  "  Friend    in    Need  "  —  New    Imogen  —  Miss 


CONTENTS  xix 

PACR 

Farren's  Retirement  to  a  Coronet  —  Mrs.  Pope's  Death 
and  Character  —  The  Author  Becomes  Acquainted  with 
Mrs.  Jordan  —  In  the  Distress  of  Drury  Lane  House, 
Reynolds  Writes  for  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Cumberland's  Be- 
haviour at  the  Exhibition  of  the  "  Will "  —  Mrs.  Jordan's 
Albina,  and  Her  Seven  Ages  of  Woman  —  "  Dido,"  and 
"  My  Night  Gown  and  Slippers "  —  Prince  Hoare  at 
Covent  Garden — Mrs.  Jordan  a  Full  Contrast  to  the 
Selfish  of  Her  Profession 283 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

Death  of  Charles  Macklin  —  His  Works  Collected  by 
Murphy  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Kind  Subscription  —  "  The  Jew 
That  Shakespeare  Drew  "  —  Interpreted  by  Sir  Joseph 
Mawbey  —  Dryden's  "  CEdipus  "  —  Lines  in,  Applied  to 
Macklin  —  Their  Beauty  —  Lord  Mansfield's  Regard  for 
Macklin  —  Note  —  His  Lordship's  Opinion  on  the  French 
Revolution  —  The  "  Heir  at  Law  "  —  "  Filthy  Dowlas  " 
— "  Italian  Monk,"  at  the  Summer  Theatre  —  Mrs. 
Jordan  visits  Richmond  and  Margate  —  Sees  Mrs.  Abing- 
ton  in  Beatrice  —  Her  Excellence  in  the  Character — 
Miss  Betterton,  Since  Mrs.  Glover  —  The  Chasm  at 
Dniry  —  How  Miss  Farren  Was  to  Be  Replaced  —  Miss 
Humphreys  in  Lady  Emily  —  Miss  Biggs  in  the  "  Irish 
Widow "  —  Miss  Decamp  a  Lover  in  the  "  Chimney 
Comer"  —  Mrs.  Jordan  in  Sir  Edward  Bloomley — De- 
fects of  "Cheap  Living"  —  Jordan  Rather  Restive  — 
Again  Quite  the  Duchess  —  Her  Happy  Illustration  of 
That  Title  —  Mrs.  Crawford's  Idle  Return  —  Lord  Dun- 
can's Victory  —  Mrs.  Jordan  Acts  for  the  Sufferers  — 
Something  Fine  —  Kemble  Acts  Hotspur  —  John 
Palmer's  Death  in  the  Summer  —  Effects  of  It  in  the 
Theatre 310 


MRS.  JORDAN 


CHAPTER   I. 

What  Is  to  Be  Expected  in  These  Memoirs  —  Mrs.  Jordan's 
Family  Theatrical  —  Irregularity  Commonly  Progressive  — 
Mrs.  Bland  —  Her  Story  —  Her  Husband  —  Her  Sisters  — 
Ryder  First  Employs  the  Talent  of  Miss  Francis  —  Daly's 
"  Duenna  "  —  Sketch  of  His  Character  as  a  Man  and  a  Man- 
ager —  Lieut.  Charles  Doyne  Proposes  Marriage  to  Miss 
Francis  —  After  Some  Deliberation  His  Proposals  Are  De- 
clined; by  Whose  Advice  in  Particular  —  Ireland  a  Good 
School  of  Acting  —  Mrs.  Abington  — Miss  Francis  as  an 
Actress,  and  Her  Own  Notion  of  Her  Powers  —  Compared 
with  Mrs.  Abington. 

|HE  lady  of  whom  I  have  undertaken  the 
biography  unquestionably  demands  such 
a  tribute  from  the  country  which  she 
adorned  with  her  talents ;  and  from  me  par- 
ticularly, who  discharge  but  a  debt  to  the  muse  of 
Comedy,  after  having  celebrated  the  two  principal 
favourites  of  her  serious  sister. 

I  assure  the  reader  that  this  allusion  to  any  pre- 


a  MRS.  JORDAN 

vious  works  of  mine  arises  from  no  feeling  of 
vanity  ;  but  that  he  may,  from  them  at  least,  infer 
the  temper  with  which  the  present  work  will  be 
written,  and  rely  upon  every  becoming  delicacy  in 
treating  the  subject.  I  see  the  delightful  and 
much-lamented  mother  affectionately  honoured  in 
her  children ;  and,  not  in  the  least  depending  upon 
her  merits,  I  know  that  they  will  justify  even 
higher  favour  (if  higher  can  be  shown)  by  pro- 
gressive merits  of  their  own.  This  declaration  is 
equally  removed,  I  trust,  from  servility  and  rude- 
ness ;  it  is  the  necessary  prelude  to  what  must  be 
an  impartial  narrative,  executed  in  the  tone  of 
sincere,  yet  gentlemanly,  freedom. 

But  there  would  be  little  interest  in  such  a  com- 
position, if  the  variety  of  its  incidents  were  to  be 
coloured  by  any  remarkable  elevation  of  its  sub- 
ject ;  it  is  the  diversity  of  her  lot  that  must  render 
the  "  Life  of  Mrs.  Jordan  "  valuable  to  the  moral- 
ist, and  of  conspicuous  importance  to  the  public  in 
general.  The  whole  of  it  justifies  the  following 
brief,  but  unequal,  summary.  She  began  life  in 
the  midst  of  difficulty  and  ambiguity;  by  her 
own  genius  attained  all  the  honours  of  her  profes- 
sion, and  the  envy,  which,  like  the  shadow,  threw 
them  fuller  upon  the  eye.  She  lived  for  a  series 


MRS.  JORDAN  3 

of  years  in  the  bosom  of  a  beloved  family,  with 
every  accompaniment  of  splendour;  and  expired 
in  a  foreign  land,  at  a  distance  from  all  that  she 
loved,  and  overwhelmed  by  disasters,  to  which  she 
could  see  no  termination  but  the  grave. 

The  mother  of  Mrs.  Jordan  was  one  of  three 
sisters  of  a  Welsh  family  of  the  name  of  Phillips. 
Their  father  I  believe  to  have  been  in  orders,  but 
there  is  little  promotion  among  the  Welsh  clergy ; 
the  scanty  provision  he  could  make  for  his  family 
induced  his  three  daughters  to  go  upon  the  stage ; 
and  we  know  from  unquestionable  authority,  that 
they  were  all  respectable  in  the  profession. 

Miss  Grace  Phillips  yielded  to  the  addresses  of 
a  Mr.  Bland,  and  she  went  to  Ireland  along  with 
him,  where  they  were  married  by  a  Catholic  priest. 
I  presume  she  continued  her  profession  without 
interruption ;  for  her  husband  was  a  minor,  and  his 
father  being  little  disposed  to  sanction  his  youth- 
ful ardour,  and,  as  a  civilian,  entirely  master  of 
his  ground,  procured  the  marriage  to  be  annulled, 
as  one  contracted  in  nonage,  and  void,  from  the 
want  of  parental  consent. 

I  venture,  in  opposition  to  the  usual  statements, 
to  throw  the  birth  of  Mrs.  Jordan  as  far  back  as 
the  year  1762,  because  I  well  remember  hearing 


4  MRS.   JORDAN 

her  age  stated  to  have  been  sixteen  in  the  year 
1778,  when  an  old  military  friend,  then  on  the 
recruiting  service  at  Cork,  saw  her  there,  in  the 
company  of  which  Daly  was  the  manager,  who 
had  brought  her  out  the  year  before.  In  this 
unfortunate  condition  of  her  parents,  Mrs.  Jordan 
was  born  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Waterford, 
about  the  year  1762,  and  was  christened,  I  sup- 
pose, Dorothy,  though,  somewhat  romantically, 
she  signed  herself,  commonly,  Dora,  when  she 
wrote  more  than  the  initial  D.  of  the  name. 

Irregularity  of  any  kind  is  commonly  progres- 
sive, and  seldom  prosperous.  The  misfortunes  of 
Mrs.  Jordan  may  be  said  to  have  commenced  at 
her  very  birth,  and  the  hue  then  impressed  upon 
her  fate  continued  to  tinge  it  to  its  close ;  there 
was  an  ambiguity  in  her  situation,  always  produc- 
tive of  annoyance ;  and  the  cultivation  and  the 
practice  of  many  virtues  were  not  always  thought 
to  balance  the  admitted  dispensation  with  some  of 
the  forms  of  life. 

To  the  relations  of  her  husband  Mrs.  Bland 
generally  seemed  to  consider  herself  under  a  sort 
of  vassalage.  She  probably  expected  that  her 
children  might  receive  benefit  by  her  attention  to 
their  feelings ;  and  the  stage-name  borne  by  her 


MRS.   JORDAN  5 

daughter  was  therefore  Francis,  except  when  some 
irritation,  usually  transient,  made  her  try  at  least 
to  mortify  them  by  the  use  of  that  of  Bland. 

It  is  obvious,  from  the  accounts  of  Wilkinson 
and  Hitchcock,  that  the  three  sisters,  whom  I 
have  already  alluded  to,  were  well  educated  and 
accomplished  women ;  and  that  they  were  persons 
of  "  gentle  blood  "  may  reasonably  be  supposed  an 
advantage  in  theatrical  life.  To  the  higher  orders 
it  is  a  favourite  apology,  I  have  observed,  that 
the  players  whom  they  patronise  are  "  persons  of  a 
respectable  family,"  and  pleasure  itself  must  be 
regulated  by  pride. 

The  studies  of  the  stage,  it  may  here  be  ob- 
served, constitute  a  better  education  than  is  com- 
monly derived  from  the  schools.  What  other 
ladies  have  under  their  command,  constantly  en- 
camped, such  "an  army  of  good  words"  as  our 
actresses  ?  Who,  besides  them,  are  so  stored  with 
every  variety  of  neat  and  polished  thought  ?  Who 
else  can  have  equal  self-possession,  equal  address ; 
and,  above  all,  who  ever  approach  them  in  distinct 
articulation,  in  voluble  or  impressive  delivery  ? 
So  great  are  these  advantages,  that  they  have  kept 
very  powerful  actresses  in  high  reputation  for  their 
wit,  who  could  scarcely  read  their  parts,  and  never 


6  MRS.  JORDAN 

acquired  the  orthography  in  which  they  were  all 
of  them  printed. 

We  shall  not  therefore  be  surprised  that,  with- 
out the  possibility  of  her  receiving  an  expensive 
education,  which  her  embarrassed  parents  could 
not  afford,  Mrs.  Jordan  acquired,  almost  domesti- 
cally, a  very  correct  diction  in  her  native  language, 
and  the  power  of  composing  agreeably,  in  either 
prose  or  verse,  with  little  premeditation.  When 
at  length  it  was  determined  that  she  also,  with  the 
family  bias,  should  appear  upon  the  stage,  Mr. 
Ryder  entrusted  to  her  the  slight  part  of  Phebe  in 
"  As  You  Like  It ; "  quite  unconscious  of  the  real 
union  that  would  one  day  take  place  between  her 
representative  and  the  poet's  Rosalind  : 

"  I'll  marry  you,  if  ever  I  marry  woman ; 
And  I'll  be  married  to-morrow." 

-  As  you  Like  It. 

The  popularity  of  Mr.  Ryder,  as  a  manager  and 
actor  in  Dublin,  was  great  and  well  merited.  As  a 
gentleman  he  was  in  truth  highly  cultivated,  and 
his  daughter  studied  the  classics,  and  translated 
elegantly  from  the  Latin  poets.  Some  of  her 
writings  I  very  recently  perused  with  pleasure. 
Ryder's  company  was  at  the  time  strong,  and  he 


MRS.  JORDAN  7 

could  therefore  allot  no  important,  perhaps  ade- 
quate, business  to  our  young  aspirant.  His  rival 
Daly  had  more  in  his  power,  or  promised  more ; 
and  the  celebrated  opera  of  the  "  Duenna "  being 
pirated,  and  called  the  "  Governess,"  with  the  char- 
acters reversed,  Miss  Francis  assumed  the  male 
attire  in  the  character  of  Lopez.  She  also  acted 
the  Romp  in  the  farce  so  called,  and  Tomboy  sat 
better  upon  her  than  Lopez;  and  the  Master  of 
Horse  in  Ireland,  Captain  Jephson's  tragedy  of  the 
"  Count  of  Narbonne  "  being  acted  at  both  theatres, 
Daly  gave  Miss  Francis  the  interesting  part  of 
Adelaide,  and  she  became  attractive  as  an  actress 
in  her  sixteenth  year. 

Daly  now  took  her  with  him  to  Cork,  and  here 
we  have  some  accurate  recollections  of  her  by  the 
friend  to  whom  I  before  alluded,  the  publication  of 
whose  memoirs  during  the  progress  of  the  present 
work  gives  me  the  opportunity  of  inserting  in  her 
life  a  sketch  so  lively  and  authentic.  See  Mr.  P. 
L.  Gordon's  "Personal  Memoirs,"  vol.  i.  p.  341. 

"  She  had  met  with  great  applause,  especially  in 
the  farce  of  the  '  Romp,'  and  Heaphy,  the  mana- 
ger of  the  Cork  theatre,  engaged  her  at  twenty 
shillings  per  week,  along  with  her  father,  who  was 
employed  as  a  scene-shifter.  The  young  lady  was 


8  MRS.  JORDAN 

at  this  time  in  her  seventeenth  year,  and  though 
not  a  regular  beauty,  she  was  universally  admired, 
and  proved  a  great  attraction.  On  this  account 
the  manager  gave  her  a  benefit,  but  for  want  of 
patronage  it  proved  a  complete  failure,  the  ex- 
penses of  the  house  being  more  than  her  receipts. 
A  party  of  young  men,  at  the  head  of  which  was  a 
Mr.  Smith,  a  banker's  clerk,  were  desirous  that 
their  favourite  should  have  another  benefit,  and 
they  called  lustily  for  Heaphy  to  come  on  the 
stage,  but  he  would  not  appear.  The  young  Pats 
were,  however,  determined  to  carry  their  point, 
and  being  joined  by  the  pit,  they  proceeded  to  tear 
up  the  benches,  and  to  attack  the  orchestra,  who, 
to  drown  the  clamour,  had  begun  fiddling.  This 
was  alarming,  and  the  acting  manager,  O'Keefe, 
Heaphy 's  son-in-law,  at  length  judged  it  prudent 
to  make  his  appearance,  when  a  spokesman  deliv- 
ered, in  an  appropriate  harangue,  the  desire  of  the 
audience  that  Miss  Phillips  should  have  a  free 
benefit.  O'Keefe  remonstrated,  stating  that  the 
season  had  been  unprofitable  to  the  manager ;  but 
this  excuse  was  not  admitted,  and  he  was  com- 
pelled to  yield  to  the  wishes  of  the  public  —  alias 
a  score  of  wild  bucks,  of  which  I  made  one. 

"  The  benefit  was  fixed  for  an  early  evening  and 


MRS.   JORDAN  9 

our  debutante  had  an  audience  that  produced  above 
forty  pounds ;  an  immense  sum  in  her  eyes,  we 
may  easily  suppose,  as  it  was  probably  the  first 
money  she  ever  had.  Her  popularity  increased 
before  the  season  closed.  Henderson  and  I  met 
at  a  supper-party,  to  which  Miss  Phillips  had  also 
been  invited.  This  celebrated  actor  complimented 
her  in  the  most  flattering  manner  on  her  talents, 
advising  her  to  study  her  profession,  and  to  as- 
sume a  higher  walk  in  comedy  than  playing 
Romps ;  and  success,  he  said,  would  be  certain. 
On  her  return  to  Dublin,  her  salary  was  raised 
to  three  guineas  a  week."  (From  Pryse  Gordon's 
"Personal  Memoirs,"  vol.  i.  p.  341.) 

Mrs.  Daly,  the  once  celebrated  Miss  Barsanti, 
it  should  here  be  observed,  was  extremely  tena- 
cious as  to  the  characters  to  which  she  had  the 
prescriptive  right  of  excellence,  as  well  as  situa- 
tion. She  might  be  the  more  tenacious,  as  her 
husband's  attentions  were  not  confined  by  his 
vow,  and  his  own  admiration  always  accompanied, 
if  it  did  not  precede,  that  of  the  public  for  every 
lady  of  merit  in  his  company. 

Richard  Daly,  Esq.,  patentee  of  the  Dublin 
Theatre,  was  born  in  the  County  Galway,  and 
educated  at  Trinity  College ;  as  a  preparation  for 


10  MRS.   JORDAN 

the  course  he  intended  to  run  through  life,  he  had 
fought  sixteen  duels  in  two  years,  three  with  the 
small-sword,  and  thirteen  with  pistols ;  and  he,  I 
suppose,  imagined,  like  Macbeth,  with  equal  con- 
fidence and  more  truth,  that  he  bore  a  "  charmed 
life ; "  for  he  had  gone  through  the  said  sixteen 
trials  of  his  nerve  without  a  single  wound  or 
scratch  of  much  consequence.  He  therefore  used 
to  provoke  such  meetings  on  any  usual  and  even 
uncertain  grounds,  and  entered  the  field  in  pea- 
green,  embroidered  and  ruffled  and  curled,  as  if 
he  had  been  to  hold  up  a  very  different  ball,  and 
gallantly  presented  his  full  front,  conspicuously 
finished  with  an  elegant  brooch,  quite  regardless 
how  soon  the  labours  of  the  toilet  "might  soil 
their  honours  in  the  dust."  Daly,  in  person,  was 
remarkably  handsome,  and  his  features  would  have 
been  agreeable  but  for  an  inveterate  and  most  dis- 
tressing squint,  the  consciousness  of  which  might 
keep  his  courage  eternally  upon  the  lookout  for 
provocation  ;  and  not  seldom,  from  surprise  alone, 
afford  him  an  opportunity  for  this  his  favourite 
diversion.  Like  Wilkes,  he  must  have  been  a 
very  unwelcome  adversary  to  meet  with  the  sword, 
because  the  eye  told  the  opposite  party  nothing 
of  his  intentions.  Mr.  Daly's  gallantry  was  equal 


MRS.  JORDAN  n 

at  least  to  his  courage,  and  the  latter  was  often 
necessary  to  defend  him  in  the  unbridled  indul- 
gence that  through  life  he  permitted  to  the  former. 
He  was  said  to  be  the  general  lover  in  his  theatri- 
cal company ;  and,  I  presume,  the  resistance  of  the 
fair  to  a  manager  may  be  somewhat  modified  by 
the  danger  of  offending  one  who  has  the  power 
to  appoint  them  to  parts,  either  striking  or  other- 
wise, and  who  must  not  be  irritated,  if  he  cannot 
be  obliged.  It  has  been  said,  too,  that  any  of  his 
subjects  risked  a  great  deal  by  an  escape  from 
either  his  love  or  his  tyranny ;  for  he  would  put 
his  bond  in  force  upon  the  refractory,  and  con- 
demn to  a  hopeless  imprisonment  those  who,  from 
virtue  or  disgust,  had  determined  to  disappoint 
him. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  he  teased  Miss  Francis 
with  his  addresses,  and  that,  upon  her  resistance 
and  desertion  of  his  theatre,  he  actually  sued  for 
the  penalty  on  her  article,  and  that  it  was  paid 
for  her  by  the  benevolence  of  a  stranger.  Such 
a  conduct  is  in  violent  opposition  to  another 
report,  that  he  had  been  a  favoured  lover  of  the 
young  lady.  Upon  the  subject  of  her  early  ad- 
mirers, there  is  one  story  which  exists  upon  an 
authority  above  dispute,  namely,  that  of  the  per- 


12  MRS.  JORDAN 

sonal  friend  of  the  lover.  This,  therefore,  I  shall 
here  introduce,  and  in  the  words  of  the  writer, 
Sir  Jonah  Barrington. 

"The  company  then  proceeded  to  perform  in 
the  provinces,  and  at  Waterford  occurred  the  first 
grave  incident  in  the  life  of  Mrs.  Jordan.  Lieut. 
Charles  Doyne,  of  the  Third  Regiment  of  heavy 
horse  (Greens),  was  then  quartered  in  that  city ; 
and,  struck  with  the  narvet£  and  almost  irresistible 
attractions  of  the  young  performer,  his  heart 
yielded,  and  he  became  seriously  and  honourably 
attached  to  her.  Lieutenant  Doyne  was  not  hand- 
some, but  he  was  a  gentleman  and  a  worthy  man, 
and  had  been  my  friend  and  companion  some  years 
at  the  university.  I  knew  him  intimately,  and  he 
entrusted  me  with  his  passion.  Miss  Francis's 
mother  was  then  alive,  and  sedulously  attended 
her.  Full  of  ardour  and  thoughtlessness  myself,  I 
advised  him,  if  he  could  win  the  young  lady,  to 
marry  her,  adding,  that,  no  doubt,  fortune  must 
smile  on  so  disinterested  a  union.  Her  mother, 
however,  was  of  a  different  opinion ;  and  as  she 
had  no  fortune  but  her  talent,  the  exercise  of 
which  was  to  be  relinquished  with  the  name 
of  Francis,  it  became  a  matter  of  serious  con- 
sideration from  what  source  they  were  to  draw 


MRS.   JORDAN  13 

their  support,  with  the  probability,  too,  of  a 
family.  His  commission  was  altogether  inade- 
quate, and  his  private  fortune  very  small.  This 
obstacle,  in  short,  was  insurmountable.  Mrs. 
Francis,  anticipating  the  future  celebrity  of  her 
child,  and  unwilling  to  extinguish  in  obscurity  all 
chance  of  fame  and  fortune  by  means  of  the  pro- 
fession she  had  adopted,  worked  upon  her  daughter 
to  decline  the  proposal.  The  treaty,  accordingly, 
ended,  and  Lieutenant  Doyne  appeared  to  me  for 
a  little  time  almost  inconsolable.  Miss  Francis, 
accompanied  by  her  mother,  soon  after  went  over 
to  England,  and  for  nearly  twenty  years  I  never 
saw  that  unrivalled  performer. 

"  Mr.  Owenson,  the  father  of  Lady  Morgan, 
took  a  warm  interest  in  the  welfare  of  Miss 
Francis,  and  was  the  principal  adviser  of  her 
mother  in  rejecting  Mr.  Doyne' s  addresses."  He 
was  an  actor  who  excelled  in  the  performance  of 
Irish  characters,  discriminated  from  Johnstone  by  a 
very  inferior  power  as  a  singer,  and  never  elevat- 
ing them  to  so  gentlemanly  a  rank  as  they  enjoyed 
in  the  hands  of  that  masterly  performer. 

Among  the  obvious  reasons  which  appear  to 
have  broken  off  the  union  we  are  speaking  of, 
those  that  respect  the  advantage  of  the  whole 


14  MRS.  JORDAN 

family  were  probably  least  urged,  and  yet  most 
felt.  They  had  got  what  their  own  knowledge  of 
acting  told  them  was  a  treasure  if  it  could  be 
applied.  An  ordinary  marriage,  and  a  consequent 
retirement  from  the  stage,  was  burying  it  from  all 
use,  either  to  herself  or  others.  Besides  this,  Mrs. 
Bland  had  herself  seen  that  passion,  though  strong 
enough  to  brave  the  present  for  its  object,  shrinks 
at  the  weary  test  of  the  future.  A  sense  of  dis- 
parity, which  the  relations  feel  from  the  first,  is 
felt  at  length  by  the  husband  himself.  Every 
succeeding  year  weakens  the  attachment,  and 
strengthens  the  objections  to  it.  The  parties  are 
separated,  and  the  wife  deserted  is  thrown  upon  a 
provision,  with  pain  either  demanded  or  satisfied ; 
while  the  talent,  kindled  in  youth,  and  then  fanned 
into  independence  by  the  public  breath,  is  to  be 
revived  in  maturity  from  a  long  slumber,  and  per- 
haps never  to  regain  the  blaze  at  which  it  was 
quenched,  much  less  the  volume  of  splendour 
which  its  uninterrupted  progress  might  have 
reached. 

There  were  other  reasons  which  might  weigh 
with  Miss  Francis,  and  which  will  suggest  them- 
selves to  the  mind  of  every  reader:  Lieutenant 
Doyne  had  no  personal  advantages;  his  rank  in 


MRS.  JORDAN  15 

the  army  was  inconsiderable ;  and  his  private  for- 
tune slender,  which,  translated  from  the  idiom  of 
the  sister  island,  is,  perhaps,  little  or  nothing. 
How  far  she  had  entangled  herself  with  Daly,  and 
by  what  ill-considered  engagements  he  might  pre- 
tend to  detain  her,  are  now  of  little  moment, 
though  at  the  time  decisive  of  her  fate.  She 
directed  her  course  to  England.  But  before  we 
show  our  fair  wanderer  upon  her  new  stage,  it 
may  be  proper  to  inquire  what  facilities  the  king- 
dom she  quitted  afforded  for  the  attainment  of 
histrionic  excellence. 

Ireland,  as  a  school  for  a  young  actress,  had 
been  long  rendered  of  first-rate  importance  by  the 
brilliant  career  of  Mrs.  Abington,  who  acted  at 
both  the  Dublin  theatres,  and  unquestionably  pos- 
sessed very  peculiar  and  hitherto  unapproached 
talent.  She,  I  think,  took  more  entire  possession 
of  the  stage  than  any  actress  I  have  seen ;  there 
was,  however,  no  assumption  in  her  dignity ;  she 
was  a  lawful  and  graceful  sovereign,  who  exerted 
her  full  power,  and  enjoyed  her  established  pre- 
rogatives. The  ladies  of  her  day  wore  the  hoop 
and  its  concomitant  train.  The  Spectator  s  exer- 
cise of  the  fan  was  really  no  play  of  fancy.  Shall 
I  say  that  I  have  never  seen  it  in  a  hand  so  dex- 


1 6  MRS.   JORDAN 

terous  as  that  of  Mrs.  Abington  ?  She  was  a 
woman  of  great  application ;  to  speak  as  she  did 
required  more  thought  than  usually  attends  female 
study.  Far  the  greater  part  of  the  sex  rely  upon 
an  intuition  which  seldom  misleads  them ;  such 
discernment  as  it  gives  becomes  habitual  and  is 
commonly  sufficient,  or  sufficient  for  common  pur- 
poses. But  commonplace  was  not  the  station  of 
Abington.  She  was  always  beyond  the  surface, 
untwisted  all  the  chains  which  bind  ideas  together, 
and  seized  upon  the  exact  cadence  and  emphasis 
by  which  the  point  of  the  dialogue  is  enforced. 
Her  voice  was  of  a  high  pitch,  and  not  very  pow- 
erful. Her  management  of  it  alone  made  it  an 
organ ;  yet  this  was  so  perfect  that  we  sometimes 
converted  the  mere  effect  into  a  cause,  and  sup- 
posed it  was  the  sharpness  of  the  tone  that  had 
conveyed  the  sting.  Yet,  her  figure  considered, 
her  voice  rather  sounded  inadequate ;  its  articula- 
tion, however,  gave  both  strength  and  smartness 
to  it,  though  it  could  not  give  sweetness.  You 
heard  her  well,  and  without  difficulty ;  and  it  is 
the  first  duty  of  a  public  speaker  to  be  audible 
and  intelligible.  Her  deportment  is  not  so  easily 
described  ;  more  womanly  than  Farren,  fuller,  yet 
not  heavy,  like  Younge,  and  far  beyond  even  the 


MRS.   JORDAN  17 

conception  of  modern  fine  ladies,  Mrs.  Abington 
remains  in  memory  as  a  thing  for  chance  to  re- 
store to  us,  rather  than  design,  and  revive  our 
polite  comedy  at  the  same  time. 

Miss  Francis,  with  her  natural  good  sense,  could 
not  fail  to  discover  that  she  had  undertaken  no 
slight  enterprise.  The  speaking  voice,  it  is  true, 
soon  makes  its  way,  and  the  possessor  of  nature's 
music  perceives  the  spell  that  it  has  breathed 
around.  To  be  listened  to  without  a  sign  of  weari- 
ness —  to  dress  by  a  few  words  of  slight  impor- 
tance every  countenance  in  smiles  —  to  see  even 
habitual  cunning  desert  the  worldly,  and  gravity 
the  thoughtful  —  such  are  the  tributes  uniformly 
paid  to  a  melodious  utterance.  The  young  actress 
would  be  aware  also  of  the  perfect  symmetry  of 
her  form,  and  though  below  the  majestic  and 
above  the  common,  might  consider  herself  seated 
as  it  were  about  the  centre  of  humanity,  and 
reaching  far  indeed  into  the  rival  realms  of  feeling 
and  humour. 

Miss  Francis  never  effused  herself  much  in 
talk ;  she  had  no  ambition  after  the  voluble  and 
the  witty.  I  know  not  that  she  would  have  been 
much  distinguished  had  chance  diverted  her  from 
the  stage ;  yet  I  think  I  know  that  she  could  not 


l8  MRS.   JORDAN 

have  been  happy  without  the  exercise  of  her  the- 
atric talent,  and  that  she  was  seeking  the  only 
medium  that  could  display  the  unbounded  humour, 
the  whim,  the  sportiveness  of  her  own  nature  on 
the  one  hand,  or  the  persuasive  reason  and  unaf- 
fected sensibility  that  gave  a  sterling  value  to  the 
lighter  parts  of  her  composition  on  the  other. 

She  never  gave  herself  the  credit  of  much 
study,  and  the  truth  was  that,  except  as  to  mere 
words,  her  studies  lay  little  in  books.  With  her 
eye  and  ear  she  would  become  insensibly  learned. 
All  the  peculiarities  of  action  and  the  whole  gamut 
of  tone  were  speedily  acquired  ;  the  general  notion 
of  a  character  once  settled,  she  called  upon  nature, 
within  her  own  bosom,  to  fill  up  the  outline,  and 
the  mighty  parent  stored  it  with  richer  materials 
than  ever  fancy  could  devise,  except  it  was  the 
fancy  that  embodied  Falstaff,  a  part  so  made  out 
that  every  speech  is  a  lesson  as  to  the  mode  of  its 
delivery,  and  to  understand  whose  language  thor- 
oughly is  to  be  himself. 

I  have  named  these  two  great  women  together, 
though  they  had  not  the  slightest  resemblance 
even  when  viewed  in  the  same  characters.  When 
Mrs.  Abington  changed  her  higher  range  of  char- 
acters for  the  cast  of  Mrs.  Jordan  in  comedy,  she 


MRS.  JORDAN  19 

always  reminded  you  of  the  sphere  she  dropped 
from ;  there  was  no  little  high  life  below  stairs. 
Mrs.  Jordan  was  the  genuine  thing  itself,  and  that 
she  imitated  at  all  never  obtruded  itself  for  a  mo- 
ment upon  her  audience.  There  was  a  heartiness 
in  her  enjoyment,  a  sincerity  in  her  laugh,  that 
sunk  the  actress  in  the  woman ;  she  seemed  only 
to  exhibit  herself  and  her  own  wild  fancies,  and 
utter  the  impromptus  of  the  moment. 

The  reader  will  perhaps  ask  here  whether  this 
was  at  all  borne  out  by  the  fact,  and  whether  Mrs. 
Jordan's  natural  character  any  way  resembled  this 
stage  impression  of  her  ?  The  answer,  as  far  as 
i  had  means  to  estimate  her,  is,  not  in  the  least. 
She  needed  to  touch  the  boards  of  the  theatre  to 
draw  from  her  what  delighted  equally  all  ranks 
and  ages  of  either  sex,  about  whose  preeminence 
there  never  was  the  slightest  dispute ;  and  if  this 
charm  of  hers  yielded  to  tragedy  the  first  place,  it 
was  only  because  the  miseries  of  life  take  deeper 
hold  of  the  mind  than  its  enjoyments,  and  history, 
epic  poetry,  tragedy,  the  romance  of  real  life,  and 
romance  itself,  confirm  us  in  our  gloomy  prefer- 
ence. We  neglect  our  best  teacher,  Gratiano,  and 
say,  like  his  companions  in  the  play,  that  he 
speaks  "an  infinite  deal  of  nothing."  It  is  much 


20  MRS.   JORDAN 

easier   to   say  this    than  to  answer  the  following 
queries : 

•'  Why  should  a  man,  whose  blood  is  warm  within, 
Sit  like  his  grandsire,  cut  in  alabaster  ? 
Sleep  when  he  wakes  —  and  creep  into  the  jaundice 
By  being  peevish  ?  —  Let  me  play  the  fool ;  — 
With  mirth  and  laughter  let  old  wrinkles  come ; 
And  let  my  liver  rather  heat  with  wine 
Than  my  heart  cool  with  mortifying  groans." 

At  all  events,  such  a  man  looks  only  at  what  is 
real  in  misfortune  ;  his  temper  keeps  him  from  all 
anticipation  before  it  arrives,  and  exaggeration 
after ;  he  removes  melancholy  from  his  mind  as 
speedily  as  he  can,  and  places  it,  for  ever,  beyond 
the  reach  of  a  darker  but  kindred  spirit,  —  misan- 
thropy. 


CHAPTER   II. 

Miss  Francis  Arrives  at  Leeds  in  July,  1782  —  Her  Interview 
with  Tate  Wilkinson  —  His  Determination  in  Her  Favour  — 
Her  First  Appearance  Was  in  Tragedy,  in  the  Part  of  Calista 
— Her  Reception  —  "The  Greenwood  Laddie,"  and  Its  Effect 

—  Tate  Prophesies   That   She  Will   Reach   the   Summit  — 
Change  of  Name  at  York,  the  Choice  of  One  on  That  Occa- 
sion —  Her  Aunt,  Miss    Phillips,  Dangerously   111   at  York, 
Makes  Her  Niece  Her  Heir  —  The  Application  of  Mrs.  Jordan 
When  a  Young  Actress  —  Mr.  William  Smith  Sees  Her  in  the 
Race  Week  —  She  Acted  Rutland  and  the  Romp  before  Him 

—  Interests  Himself  Warmly  about  Her  —  She  Acts  Arionelli 

—  Mr.    Knight  —  Lady    Leake  —  Swan,  the   Critic,  Teaches 
Mrs.    Jordan    Zara  —  Sheffield,   an  Alarm  —  The    Duke   of 
Norfolk  —  Mrs.    Jordan's    Rivals  —  Mrs.    Smith,    and    Her 
March  Extraordinary. 

|T  was  early  in  the  month  of  July,  1782, 
that  Tate  Wilkinson,  manager  of  the 
York  company,  then  at  Leeds,  was  in- 
formed that  Miss  Francis,  with  her  mother, 
brother,  and  sister,  were  arrived,  and  requested  to 
see  him  at  his  earliest  convenience.  That  worthy 
man  immediately  visited  them  at  their  inn,  and 
found,  in  Mrs.  Bland,  the  mother,  his  own  Desde- 

21 


22  MRS.    JORDAN 

mona  at  Dublin,  in  the  year  1758,  when  he  acted 
Othello,  and  indeed  almost  everything.  She  was 
at  that  time  Miss  Grace  Phillips. 

The  party  was  fatigued  with  the  journey,  and 
the  first  glance  of  the  manager  sufficed  to  ac- 
quaint him  with  their  indifferent  circumstances. 
The  mother  had  an  introduction  which,  like  that 
of  brother  soldiers,  is  always  strong:  she  had 
served  with  Mr.  Wilkinson  in  the  campaigns  of 
their  youth;  and  it  was  not  unlikely  that  the 
young  lady  inherited  some  theatrical  talent,  as 
the  quality  of  the  soil  she  sprang  from.  How- 
ever, he  asked  her  laconically  whether  her  line 
was  tragedy,  comedy,  or  opera?  To  which,  in 
one  word,  she  answered,  "  All." 

When  telling  her  story  afterward,  she  always 
said,  at  this  point  of  it :  "  Sir,  in  my  life  I  never 
saw  an  elderly  gentleman  more  astonished ! " 
Mrs.  Bland  now  found  herself  at  full  liberty  to 
dilate  upon  her  daughter's  merits ;  and,  fond  as 
she  always  was  of  her,  it  is  possible  that  even  a 
mother's  fondness  did  not  overrate  them.  Upon 
the  virtues  of  her  heart,  she  was  copious  with 
equal  reason  —  she  was  a  girl  of  nineteen,  and 
the  whole  family  depended  upon  her. 

The  most  benevolent  man  is  often  obliged   to 


MRS.   JORDAN  23 

shape  his  kindness  by  his  interest.  Before  Mr. 
Wilkinson  opened  a  negotiation,  it  became  neces- 
sary for  him  to  reflect  a  little ;  and  he  withdrew 
accordingly  to  another  room  for  a  few  minutes  to 
decide  whether  he  should  give  the  common  nega- 
tive, that  his  company  was  too  full  at  present,  or 
enter  upon  the  business  with  that  friendly  con- 
cession that  left  the  terms  of  the  engagement 
alone  to  be  adjusted.  It  is  not  too  much  praise 
here  to  say  that  his  heart  determined  him.  On 
his  reentering  the  room,  which  he  soon  did,  his 
smile  told  the  adventurers  they  were  likely  to  gain 
some  provision,  however  trifling,  and  a  friend  who 
was  to  be  secured  by  zeal  and  attention  to  the 
concern  in  which  he  was  engaged.  But  the  hero- 
ine, at  that  time,  exhibited  not  a  vestige  of  her 
comic  powers  either  in  feature  or  manner.  On 
the  contrary,  like  the  player  in  "Hamlet,"  she 
had,  with  a  slight  parody,  — 

"  Tears  in  her  eyes,  dejection  in  her  aspect, 
A  broken  voice,  and  her  whole  function  suited 
With  forms  to  her  distress." 

When  Wilkinson  besought  her  to  favour  him 
with  the  usual  "taste  of  her  quality,"  a  passionate 
speech,  the  languor  that  sat  upon  her  frame  pro- 


24  MRS.   JORDAN 

nounced  her  just  then  to  be  incapable  of  any 
assumed  passion.  She  wished  to  merit  an  engage- 
ment by  a  fair  trial  on  the  boards,  and  the  man- 
ager assented  to  this,  the  fairest  of  all  propositions. 
Their  considerate  friend  now  ordered  a  bottle  of 
Madeira  to  be  brought  in,  and  the  friendly  charm 
soon  revived  the  spirits  of  the  travellers,  who 
chatted  gaily  upon  the  subject  of  the  Irish  stage, 
and  the  general  news  of  that  kingdom,  till  at 
length  the  manager  espied  a  favourable  opportu- 
nity of  repeating  his  request  for  the  speech,  which 
was  to  decide  in  some  degree  his  opinion  of  her 
value ;  and  the  interesting  woman  spoke  for  him 
a  few  lines  of  Calista,  which  they  settled  she  was 
to  act  on  the  Thursday  following,  with  Lucy,  in 
the  "  Virgin  Unmasked."  The  exquisite  and 
plaintive  melody  of  her  voice,  the  distinctness  of 
her  articulation,  the  truth  and  nature  that  looked 
through  her,  affected  the  experienced  actor  deeply  ; 
his  internal  delight  could  only  be  balanced  by  his 
hopes,  and  he  poured  out  his  praise  and  his  con- 
gratulation in  no  measured  language.  As  is  usual 
on  such  occasions,  the  modest  actress  replied  that 
"if  she  could  but  please  her  manager  she  should 
be  satisfied ;  and  that,  should  she  achieve  the 
public  favour,  he  should  ever  find  her  grateful 


MRS.   JORDAN  25 

for  the  aid  he  had  afforded  to  her  necessity."  If 
the  heart  speaks  too  much  on  these  occasions,  it 
is  cruel  to  arrest  its  triumph  by  a  suspicion  dis- 
honourable to  our  nature ;  Tate  acknowledged  a 
sudden  "impulse  of  regard,"  and  the  parties  sepa- 
rated with  mutual  good  wishes,  and  expressions  of 
entire  confidence  in  the  result. 

It  was  on  the  nth  of  July,  1782,  that,  under 
the  name  of  Francis  (for  her  mother  desired  the 
manager  to  cancel  that  of  Bland,  inserted  in  the 
playbills),  she  was  put  up,  for  the  first  time,  at 
Leeds,  in  the  character  of  Calista ;  but,  greatly 
to  the  manager's  surprise,  Mrs.  Bland  had  desired 
he  would  announce  that,  after  the  play,  Miss 
Francis  would  sing  the  song  of  the  "  Greenwood 
Laddie."  As  we  have  said,  Wilkinson  had  detected 
no  symptoms  of  comedy  in  the  heroine  of  the 
evening ;  but  he  did  them  the  credit  to  believe 
that  they  knew  well  what  they  were  doing,  and 
so  merely  threw  out  an  incantation  which  had 
previously  been  found  irresistible. 

The  manager  of  a  country  circuit,  like  that  of 
York,  is  a  person  of  no  little  importance ;  and,  if 
he  be  a  man  accomplished  like  Tate  Wilkinson, 
is  likely  to  stand  well  with  all  the  principal  gentry 
in  the  great  towns  which  he  visits.  Literature 


26  MRS.  JORDAN 

naturally  allies  itself  to  the  stage,  and  what  lover 
of  letters  would  be  insensible  to  the  social  claims 
of  one  who  had  not  only  himself  represented  the 
whole  range  of  dramatic  character,  but,  as  a  mimic, 
was  also  the  representative  of  theatric  life;  who 
could  bring  before  them  Garrick  and  Foote,  and 
even  Woffington  and  Pritchard,  and  a  long  et 
cetera  of  both  sexes ;  and  was  of  all  humours  that 
had  shown  themselves  humours  for  near  half  a 
century?  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that,  on  the 
present  occasion,  Tate  would  fairly  relate  to  the 
patrons  of  the  playhouse  all  that  he  had  himself 
felt  of  the  charm  about  the  young  actress ;  and 
that  for  the  double  object  of  affording  her  suita- 
ble minds  to  impress,  and  of  deriving  himself  the 
means  of  holding  together  a  numerous  company, 
popular  only  by  the  quality  and  variety  of  its 
attractions.  Her  rehearsals  had  elevated  his 
hopes  to  the  tone  of  prophecy,  and  he  ventured 
to  say  that  Miss  Francis  would  be  at  the  very 
head  of  the  profession.  Yet  Gibber,  it  is  prob- 
able, lingered  about  his  heart,  as  she  had  done 
about  his  master,  Garrick's ;  and  of  comedy,  for 
the  present,  there  was  no  question. 

She  was  heard  through  the  play  with  the  great- 
est  attention   and    sympathy,   and    the   manager 


MRS.  JORDAN  27 

began  to  tremble  at  the  absurdity,  as  he  reasona- 
bly thought  it,  of  Calista  arising  from  the  dead, 
and  rushing  before  an  audience  in  their  tears,  to 
sing  a  ballad  in  the  pastoral  style,  which  nobody 
called  for  or  cared  about.  But  on  she  jumped, 
with  her  elastic  spring,  and  a  smile  that  Nature's 
own  cunning  hand  had  moulded,  in  a  frock  and  a 
little  mob-cap,  and  her  curls,  as  she  wore  them  all 
her  life ;  and  she  sang  her  ballad  so  enchantingly 
as  to  fascinate  her  hearers,  and  convince  the  man- 
ager that  every  charm  had  not  been  exhausted  by 
past  times,  nor  all  of  them  numbered,  for  the 
volunteer  unaccompanied  ballad  of  Mrs.  Jordan 
was  peculiar  to  her,  and  charmed  only  by  her 
voice  and  manner.  Leeds,  though  a  manufactur- 
ing town,  and  strongly  addicted  to  the  interests 
of  trade,  was,  at  the  call  of  the  charmer,  induced 
to  crowd  her  benefit  on  the  5th  of  August ;  and, 
that  being  over,  the  troop  were  seen  in  full  march 
for  York,  where  Wilkinson  had  ordered  his  new 
acquisition  to  be  announced  as  Calista,  by  the 
name  of  Francis. 

But  the  only  female  name  unsusceptible  of 
change  is  the  baptismal.  The  surname  is  one 
above  confinement,  and  variable  with  the  condi- 
tion of  the  bearer.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  ladies 


28  MRS.   JORDAN 

at  York,  the  manager  received  a  note  from  Mrs. 
Bland,  stating  that,  for  very  particular  reasons, 
which  would  be  explained,  the  name  of  Francis 
must  be  changed,  and  some  other  adopted.  Wil- 
kinson naturally  proposed  Bland,  to  which  she  had 
a  natural  title,  but  the  actress  now  wrote  to  him 
"  that  his  wish,  as  to  the  insertion  of  Bland,  could 
not  be  complied  with,  as  that  name  in  the  prints 
might  probably  much  injure  her  in  the  opinion  of 
her  father's  relations."  I  choose  to  cite,  on  this 
occasion,  the  manager's  own  words,  because  I 
believe  them  to  be  sincere,  and  find  them  marked 
with  a  propriety  that  will  not  escape  admiration. 
"So,"  says  he,  "on  our  meeting,  and  the  matter 
being  explained,  there  appeared  obvious  and  press- 
ing reasons  for  a  change  of  name,  and  that  of  Mrs. 
Jordan  was  adopted."  What  Wilkinson  deliber- 
ately writes  may  be  depended  on.  In  conversa- 
tion, he  used  to  claim  the  honour  of  having  been 
her  godfather  on  this  occasion,  and,  as  the  son  of 
a  clergyman,  indulged  himself  with  an  allusion 
to  the  "Jordan,"  which  she  had  luckily  passed, 
whatever  badge  of  her  former  slavery  she  might 
still  carry  about  her ;  and  she  gratefully  bore  the 
name  on  this  pious  recommendation.  As  to  the 
Mrs.  now  assumed,  it  was  a  shield  that  protected 


MRS.   JORDAN  29 

the  wearer  from  all  frivolous  suitors ;  and  here  I 
shall  drop  the  subject,  though  her  manager  lingers 
about  it.  The  Jordan  is  a  name  sufficiently  de- 
voted to  fame ;  and  though,  at  one  time,  in  York 
itself,  the  ford  was  used  instead  of  the  river,  yet 
her  fame,  as  an  actress,  may  flow  on  by  that  ap- 
pellation alone,  as  long  as  her  existence  is 
remembered. 

But  the  reader  must  be  made  acquainted  with 
the  reason  which  produced  this  new  decision  as  to 
name,  on  the  arrival  at  York,  which  had,  indeed, 
before  been  attended  with  some  difficulty.  The 
fact  was,  that  her  aunt,  Miss  Phillips,  who  had 
also  been  an  actress  in  the  York  company,  and 
was  now  lying  dangerously  ill,  had  that  last  in- 
firmity of  the  Welsh  mind,  a  high  value  for  the 
families  to  which  she  claimed  alliance.  She  had 
earnestly  entreated  to  see  her  sister,  Mrs.  Bland, 
and  to  welcome  her  niece,  whom  she  pronounced 
to  be  already  an  honour  to  the  stock  from  which 
she  derived  alike  her  theatrical  and  lineal  honours  ; 
and  as  this  near  relation  was  at  the  point  of  death, 
and  destined  a  very  enviable  wardrobe  as  a  legacy 
to  her  beloved  niece,  upon  the  payment  of  a  slight 
equity  of  redemption,  both  prudence  and  affection 
concurred  in  allowing  the  last  wish  of  an  aunt 


30  MRS.  JORDAN 

who  felt  her  interest  so  strongly.  Miss  Phillips 
is  said  to  have  considered  herself  the  greatest 
actress  that  had  ever  appeared,  and  she  had  the 
opinion  to  herself.  Her  niece  has  been  generally 
considered  unrivalled  in  her  particular  walk,  but 
it  was  a  pretension  which  I  believe  she  never 
uttered,  if  she  for  a  moment  believed  it  to  be  just. 
Within  a  week  after  this  transaction  the  aunt 
died,  and  Mrs.  Jordan  pursued  her  profession, 
though  she  did  not  exactly  tread  in  her  steps. 
Her  aunt  had  been  an  indolent  actress ;  our  hero- 
ine, on  the  contrary,  was  then  so  indefatigable  in 
her  application  that  she  studied  a  new  character 
and  played  it  between  day  and  day.  And  when 
we  consider  that  stage  business  in  the  provincial 
towns  is  commonly  thus  hurried,  and  yet  that  the 
seeds  are  there  sown  whose  maturity  is  so  rich 
a  feast  to  us  in  London,  we  may  well  admit  that 
no  profession  is  more  laborious,  that  in  none  are 
brighter  powers  displayed,  and  that  memory  is 
there  cultivated  to  an  extent  of  copiousness  and 
accuracy  of  which  no  equal  examples  can  be 
found.  To  all  these  qualities  must  be  added 
the  tact  by  which  character  is  discerned,  and 
embodied  and  preserved  in  perfect  consistency 
with  the  poet's  outline,  filled  up  by  the  expression, 


MRS.   JORDAN  31 

the  gesture,  the  eye,  the  gait,  to  which  the  actor 
accommodates  unfailingly  his  mental  and  personal 
habits  during  the  exhibition.  What  is  technically 
called  the  business  of  a  part,  may  be  learned  from 
some  member  of  the  company  who  has  seen  it 
played.  But  still  much  must  be  left  to  the  indi- 
vidual who  assumes  the  character ;  and  they  who 
have  attended,  with  any  candour,  performances 
out  of  the  metropolis,  must,  on  the  whole,  be 
astonished  at  their  relative  perfection. 

The  race  week  at  York  brings  many  visitors  to 
the  theatre  who  cannot  be  expected  there  on  less 
excitement.  Among  such  amateurs  of  the  turf  and 
the  boards  was  to  be  numbered  Mr.  William 
Smith,  the  admired  actor  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre. 
Mrs.  Jordan  had  the  pleasure  of  acting  Rutland 
before  that  gentleman,  and  she  followed  her  serious 
interest  by  the  performance  of  Priscilla  Tomboy  in 
the  "  Romp,"  which  she  had  acted  in  Dublin  the 
year  before,  and  in  which  she  continued  to  delight 
as  long  as  figure  permitted  her  to  retain  the  charac- 
ter. Smith  was  a  warm-hearted  and  gentlemanly 
man,  and  when  strongly  impressed  by  merit  did 
not  content  himself  with  his  personal  gratification, 
but  both  spoke  and  wrote  of  the  subject  with  every 
wish  to  serve ;  and  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Jordan, 


32  MRS.  JORDAN 

fortunately,  with  the  power.  Smith  felicitated  the 
manager,  and  attended  every  performance  of  the 
actress  while  he  stayed  in  York,  and  Wilkinson 
became  somewhat  alarmed  lest  he  should  lose  his 
charmer  through  this  enthusiasm  ;  however,  he  had 
taken  care  to  make  her  sign  an  article  before  they 
quitted  Leeds,  and  the  forfeiture  of  a  theatrical 
article,  reader,  is  attended  by  a  penal  condition 
not  very  soluble  to  a  rival  manager,  and  quite 
destructive  to  an  unaided  actress. 

At  York  Mrs.  Jordan  assumed  the  part  of  Ari- 
onelli  in  the  "  Son-in-law,"  and  played  it  with 
laughable  effect ;  but  I  own  I  can  hardly  conceive 
an  exhibition  more  incongruous.  For  what  is  the 
point  burlesqued  ?  That  a  male  in  the  Italian 
Opera  sings  with  a  voice  that  resembles  in  its 
upper  tones  that  of  a  female  ;  and  the  more  of 
a  Hercules  the  actor's  form  displays,  the  more 
risible  will  be  the  shrill  effeminacy  of  his  voice. 
In  old  Bannister  this  contrast  was  perfect.  But 
place  a  female  in  Arionelli,  and  all  contrast  is  at 
an  end  ;  dress  her  how  you  will,  the  spectator  sees 
that  it  is  a  woman,  and  for  a  woman  to  sing 
soprano  is  natural,  and  can  excite  no  laughter. 
If  it  be  the  Italian  style  only  that  she  burlesques, 
the  laugh  is  merely  the  laugh  of  ignorance ;  if  it 


MRS.  JORDAN  33 

be  the  figure  and  the  foreign  utterance,  the  first 
cannot  be  assumed,  and  the  latter  ends  with  the 
first  speech.  There  is  one  point,  to  be  sure,  in 
the  dialogue,  that  suits  alike  the  character  of  Ari- 
onelli  and  his  representative.  As  to  marrying  the 
old  man's  daughter,  they  may  either  of  them  de- 
clare, "  it  is  quite  out  of  my  way."  The  favourite, 
either  in  the  theatre  or  on  the  course,  is  apt  to  en- 
gross the  attention.  To  give  Mrs.  Jordan  Ario- 
nelli  offended  the  actor  who  had  before  represented 
it,  and  Mr.  Wilkinson  lost  the  services  of  a  deserv- 
ing man,  a  Mr.  Tyler,  on  this  occasion.  Some- 
thing was  expected  from  Knight,  our  old  favourite, 
who  had  come  from  Edinburgh,  into  the  York 
company,  to  support  the  gay  and  sparkling  char- 
acters of  the  drama,  and  he  had  Lothario  assigned 
to  him,  that  he  might  act  with  the  Jordan  in  the 
"  Fair  Penitent."  How  he  should  fail  in  it  so  en- 
tirely as  he  did,  I  can  with  difficulty  conceive :  his 
figure  admirably  suited  the  part ;  he  was  an  actor 
who  weighed  everything  he  uttered  critically  all 
his  life;  indeed,  the  sagacious  manager  ventured 
to  recommend  any  other  profession  in  the  world  to 
him  rather  than  the  stage.  The  actor  was  too 
firmly  upon  his  centre  to  be  overthrown  by  this 
shock,  rude  as  it  was.  He  had  "that  within 


34  MRS.   JORDAN 

which  passeth  show,"  and  smiled  at  the  manager's 
injunction  and  his  fears  ;  from  the  latter  of  which 
Mr.  Knight  soon  recovered  his  friend  Tate  by 
some  admirable  performances,  till  at  length  he 
gained  at  Bath  a  very  high  and  merited  reputation. 
In  the  midst  of  this  career  of  Mrs.  Jordan,  her 
attention,  for  a  moment  only,  was  called  to  the 
d6but  of  a  Lady  Leake,  who,  from  "a  train  of 
unavoidable  misfortunes,"  had  sought  the  refuge 
of  a  theatre,  as  her  husband  had  been  compelled 
to  accept  that  of  the  King's  Bench.  A  "  rag  of 
quality  "  has  a  stage  attraction  to  the  little  great 
—  they  delight  their  own  vanity  in  the  exercise  of 
their  compassion,  and  support  the  manager,  though 
they  never  can  the  actress.  This  lady  had  not 
soared  indecently  with  her  inexperienced  wings  : 
she  levelled  but  at  Amelia,  in  Colman's  "  English 
Merchant ; "  but,  after  all,  the  policy  may  be  ques- 
tioned that  seeks  to  make  impression  where  no 
impression  can  be  made.  In  a  part  powerfully 
written,  a  character  boldly  drawn,  the  novice  is 
supported,  in  some  degree,  by  the  dress  she  wears. 
In  the  boyish  declamations  of  our  schools,  you  will 
admire  the  nervous  beauties  they  deliver,  however 
limited  their  powers  of  delivery  may  be ;  and  the 
speaker  has  some  share,  at  least,  in  the  applause 


MRS.   JORDAN  35 

excited.  Give  a  boy  mediocrity  to  dole  out,  and 
you  are  sure  to  yawn,  if  you  do  not  sleep,  and  his 
relations  will  clap  the  only  hands  at  his  exit.  At 
rehearsal,  in  the  morning,  this  lady's  voice  seemed 
to  fill  the  empty  region  like  a  bell,  as  she  exclaimed, 
triumphantly,  to  the  manager  —  but  the  bell  was 
muffled  in  the  evening,  and  its  faint  efforts  dis- 
turbed no  ear  in  the  front  of  the  theatre.  The 
audience  allowed  their  pity  to  silence  their  censure, 
and  Lady  Leake  courted  her  fortune  where  we 
sincerely  hope  that  she  was  kinder. 

In  addition  to  the  chance  of  some  rival's  dis- 
turbing her  ascendancy,  Mrs.  Jordan  needed  all 
the  friendship  of  her  manager  to  protect  her  from 
the  ill-will  of  the  community.  Some  of  his  kind- 
ness to  her,  the  patentee  has  not  allowed  to  de- 
pend for  its  fame  upon  her  own  recollection,  and 
of  one  piece,  his  recital  may  provoke  the  risibility 
of  the  reader.  "I  introduced  her,"  says  Tate, 
"to  our  critic,  Mr.  Cornelius  Swan,1  of  York, 

1  Swan  had  the  very  demon  of  tuition  in  him.  On  a  report, 
in  the  decline  of  his  life,  that  Garrick  was  about  to  resume  the 
part  of  Othello,  he  teased  him  with  his  remarks  upon  the  play, 
at  immeasurable  length ;  and  the  manager  transferred  them  to 
George  Steevens,  who,  as  Shakespeare's  editor,  thought,  at  first, 
there  might  be  something  in  the  labours  of  Cornelius,  and  that 
he  might  better  regulate  the  stage  directions  in  the  play,  by  any 


36  MRS.  JORDAN 

who  said  he  would  teach  her  to  act."  And  when 
Mrs.  Jordan  was  ill,  he  was  admitted  to  the  little 
bedchamber,  where,  by  the  side  of  the  bed,  with 
Mrs.  Bland's  old  red  cloak  round  his  neck,  he 
would  sit  and  instruct  his  pupil  in  Hill's  character 
of  Zara.  "  You  must  revive  that  tragedy,  Wilkin- 
son," said  he,  "for  I  have  given  the  Jordan  but 
three  lessons,  and  she  is  so  adroit  at  receiving  my 
instructions,  that  I  declare  she  repeats  the  char- 
acter as  well  as  Mrs.  Gibber  ever  did ;  nay,  let 
me  do  the  Jordan  justice,  for  I  do  not  exceed, 
when  with  truth  I  declare,  Jordan  speaks  it  as  well 
as  I  could  myself."  Cornelius,  in  his  fondness, 

reasonable  notions  upon  the  subject  of  the  terrible  end  of  Des- 
demona.  But  the  Swan  of  York  and  the  Ouse  was,  at  length, 
deemed  to  have  little  in  common  with  that  of  Stratford  and  the 
Avon ;  and  the  page  of  Shakespeare  was  not  allowed  to  boast 
the  improvements  of  Cornelius  Swan.  Not  that  Steevens  was 
at  all  sullen  to  the  claims  of  our  metropolitical  city  upon  Shake- 
speare ;  for,  I  remember,  he  used  to  carry  Harry  Rowe's  "  Mac- 
beth "  in  his  pocket,  and,  sometimes,  when  any  difference  between 
himself  and  Malone  upon  a  probable  reading  of  the  text  was 
mentioned,  he  would  say,  with  that  glance  of  mischief  which 
was  so  peculiar  to  him,  "  Now,  sir,  Harry  Rowe,  the  trumpeter, 
decides  the  point  with  infinitely  less  trouble  I " 

It  is  needless  to  add  that  Mr.  Garrick,  during  the  latter  part 
of  his  career,  dropped  the  part  of  Othello  altogether.  The  com- 
plexion of  the  noble  Moor  lessened  the  brilliant  efficacy  of  his 
eye.  Take  from  the  snake  its  power  of  fascination,  and  its  prey 
is  gone. 


MRS.  JORDAN  37 

adopted  her  as  his  child,  but,  at  his  death,  he  did 
not  leave  her  a  shilling. 

In  the  usual  order  of  the  circuit,  Wakefield 
and  Doncaster  enjoyed  the  excellence  of  the  new 
actress,  and  confident  in  her  strength,  the  man- 
ager thought  that  Sheffield  itself  might  merit  an 
invasion  from  the  troop,  though,  of  late,  that  town 
had  shown  an  almost  ruinous  indifference  to 
theatrical  amusement.  But  that  experiment  may 
be  sufficient  for  danger,  which  yields  no  profit. 
Mrs.  Jordan,  at  Sheffield,  was  placed  in  peril  of 
her  life.  The  occasion  was  this.  Pilon  had 
brought  out  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  in  May,  1782, 
an  opera  called  the  "  Fair  American."  From  this 
opera  his  misfortunes  were  to  be  dated.  Carter, 
his  composer,  sued  him  for  his  charge  for  very 
indifferent  music ;  the  poor  author  had  no  profits 
himself  from  the  theatre,  and  was  obliged  to  ab- 
scond. As  the  last  novelty  that  had  succeeded, 
though  not  brilliantly,  the  York  manager  procured 
a  copy  of  it,  and  it  was  acted  at  Sheffield,  on  the 
1 8th  of  October,  1782.  The  scene  discovered 
Mrs.  Jordan  and  Mr.  Knight  sitting  at  tea,  as 
chambermaid  and  footman,  and  the  audience  were 
enjoying  their  humour,  when,  on  a  sudden,  without 
the  slightest  warning,  what  is  technically  called 


38  MRS.   JORDAN 

a  curtain,  with  its  ponderous  wooden  roller,  fell 
from  the  roof  of  the  theatre  at  their  feet ;  had 
they  been  a  few  inches  more  forward  on  the  stage, 
or  had  they  been  advancing  from  their  seats  to- 
ward the  front,  one  or  both  of  them  might  have 
been  crushed  to  death,  and  the  stage  of  Garrick 
never  have  witnessed  an  attraction  in  comedy 
equal  to  his  own. 

The  fine  lady,  in  comedy,  of  the  York  company, 
at  this  time,  was  Mrs.  Smith,  an  actress  of  great 
diligence  and  merit ;  in  all  other  respects  the 
very  opposite  to  poor  Jordan,  as  she  was  well 
connected,  in  very  comfortable  circumstances, 
happy  in  her  husband  and  her  friends,  and  in 
possession  of  the  most  valuable  line  of  business 
in  the  theatre. 

This  lady  expected,  at  the  end  of  September,  an 
increase  to  her  family,  and  the  great  object  of  her 
thoughts  was  to  make  the  periods  before  and  after 
her  confinement  as  short  as  possible,  that  her 
rival  might  not  appear,  or,  at  least,  not  be  seen 
often,  in  any  of  the  characters  that  she  considered 
her  own ;  such  as  Emmeline,  Lady  Racket,  Lady 
Bell,  Lady  Teazle,  Lady  Alton,  Indiana,  and  others 
in  that  cast.  She,  therefore,  rendered  the  virgin 
purity  of  some  of  them  rather  questionable  to  the 


MRS.   JORDAN  39 

eye,  and  was  admonished  by  the  manager  to  with- 
draw, since  the  quick  study  of  Mrs.  Jordan  could 
at  any  time  supply  her  place  at  a  day's  notice,  and 
it  was,  therefore,  idle  to  inconvenience  herself  in 
her  present  situation.  Her  confinement  took  place 
on  the  2d  of  October,  in  a  remarkably  wet  season, 
and  on  the  13th  the  march  of  the  troop  was  to 
take  place  from  Doncaster  to  Sheffield.  In  her 
impatience  to  act,  soon  after  her  delivery,  in  a 
damp  garden,  she  absolutely  began  to  exercise  her- 
self daily,  in  order  that  she  might  be  able  to  per- 
form the  journey  of  eighteen  miles  to  Sheffield. 
She  performed  the  journey,  it  is  true,  but  the 
result  of  her  folly  was  a  lameness  in  the  hip,  which 
for  some  time  threatened  serious  consequences. 
Lame  as  she  was,  however,  rather  than  submit 
to  Mrs.  Jordan's  performing  her  part  of  Fanny, 
in  the  "Clandestine  Marriage,"  she  determined 
to  hobble  through  it  herself,  though  really  as 
crippled  as  Lord  Ogleby  seemed,  and  absolutely 
rendered  herself  incapable,  by  it,  of  all  exertion, 
from  the  end  of  October  to  the  middle  of 
December. 

It  was  at  Sheffield  that  the  late  amiable  Duke 
of  Norfolk  commenced  an  admiration  of  Mrs. 
Jordan  which  continued  through  life :  he  was  an 


40  MRS.   JORDAN 

honourable  and  useful  friend,  on  many  occasions, 
in  her  theatrical  progress.  Some  patronage  she 
had  at  her  benefit,  but  neither  she  nor  her  mana- 
ger could  boast  of  their  profits,  though  the  river 
Don  converted  all  their  iron  into  gold  for  the 
industrious  dwellers  upon  its  banks.  And  thus 
it  was  that,  employed,  but  not  supported,  the 
company  left  Sheffield  for  Kingston-upon-Hull. 

Although  the  prefix  of  Mrs.  to  her  name  might 
have  been  thought  a  sufficient  apology  for  the 
indisposition  which  confined  her  to  her  apartments 
at  Hull  till  the  month  of  December,  yet  her  suc- 
cess had  been  so  great,  and  the  mortification  of 
her  stage  sisters  so  complete,  that  they  availed 
themselves  of  all  the  artifices  of  insinuation  to 
lower  her  attraction  with  the  lady  patronesses  of 
Hull ;  and  represented  her  moral  character  to 
be  such  as  to  render  her  unworthy  of  their 
notice.  The  affected  regret  that,  with  talents 
like  hers,  there  should  be  so  much  to  reprove 
in  her  conduct, 

"  The  shrug  —  the  hum  —  the  ha  —  those  petty  brands 
That  calumny  doth  use,"  — 

worked  their  way  so  effectually,  that,  in  spite  of 
the  applause  which  had  run  before  her,  she  was 


MRS.   JORDAN  41 

but  coolly  received  on  the  evening  after  the  Christ- 
mas festival,  when  she  acted  her  admired  "  Calista," 
and  followed  it  by  the  famous  "  Highland  Laddie." 
There  was  a  cold  and  sarcastic  application  of  the 
character  of  the  heroine  to  the  performer,  among 
the  ladies,  which  chilled  the  actress,  and  rendered 
the  scene  languid ;  so  little  harmony  had  these 
ungracious  beings  retained  about  them,  that  any- 
thing like  hilarity  offended  their  prejudice,  and 
Mrs.  Jordan  was  absolutely  that  night  hissed  in 
her  song,  which  had  previously  received  the  most 
unfailing  applause. 

Her  own  good  sense,  and  the  advice  of  her 
judicious  and  friendly  manager,  led  her  to  bear  up 
against  this  temporary  displeasure,  and  when  it 
was  fully  made  known  that  her  manners  were  as 
decorous  as  her  diligence  was  extraordinary,  and 
that  scandal,  at  all  events,  could  not  deny  her  pro- 
fessional power  to  delight,  the  town  at  last  gave 
up  a  scrutiny  that  they  had  no  great  right  to 
institute  into  the  private  history  of  this  popular 
representative ;  and  their  smiling  presence,  on 
common  nights,  not  being  withdrawn  at  her  bene- 
fit, the  mutual  good  understanding  produced  mu- 
tual advantage,  for  the  actress's  talents  improved 
with  her  circumstances. 


42  MRS.   JORDAN 

Thus,  at  length  happily  established  in  her  profes- 
sion, and  looking  now  forward  with  some  confi- 
dence to  the  ability  of  supporting  the  family  so 
dear  to  her,  closed  the  year  1782,  —  Mrs.  Jordan's 
first  season  in  the  York  company. 


CHAPTER   III. 

The  Year  1783  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Amazing  Popularity  in  the  Char- 
acter of  William,  in  "  Rosina"  —  Mrs.  Brooke  the  Authoress 

—  Her  Husband,  Curate  to  Wilkinson's  Father  at  the  Savoy 

—  The  King's    Chaplain    Transported  —  Garrick's   Officious 
Meddling  — Mrs.  Baddeley  at  York  —  A  Lesson  to  Our  Hero- 
ine of  Negative  Instruction  —  Mrs.  Mills,  Fawcett's  First  Wife, 
an  Example  of  Application  to  Her  —  The  Art  of  Mortifying 
a   Scenic    Rival  —  Mrs.   Ward,   a   Great    Professor  —  Mrs. 
Brown,  the  Wife  of  Harlequin  Brown,  Her  "  Country  Girl "  — 
Miss  Wilkinson,  afterward  Mrs.  Mountain  —  Season  of  1785, 
the  Last  of  Mrs.  Jordan  as  a  Member  of  the  York  Company 

—  An  Instance  of  Her  Caprice  —  Sees  Mrs.  Yates  as  Margaret 
of  Anjou  —  Dick  Yates's  Opinion  of  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Mrs.  Sid- 
dons  Also  for  Rustication  —  Mrs.  Robinson,  the  Prophetess 

—  Takes  Leave    of   Yorkshire  in    the  "  Poor   Soldier,"  to 
Proceed  to  London. 

JHE  year  1783  added  to  Mrs.  Jordan's 
range  of  characters  one  which  was  ap- 
plauded and  followed  with  enthusiasm. 
It  was  no  other  than  the  part  of  William  in  Mrs. 
Brooke's  unaffected  rustic  opera  called  "Rosina." 
The  neatness  of  her  figure  in  the  male  attire  was 
for  years  remarkable ;  but  the  attraction  after  all 
is  purely  feminine,  and  the  display  of  female,  not 

43 


44  MRS.  JORDAN 

male  perfections.  Did  the  lady  really  look  like  a 
man,  the  coarse  androgynus  would  be  hooted  from 
the  stage. 

Mrs.  Brooke  was  truly  an  ingenious  woman  and 
an  excellent  novelist.  Her  husband  had  been  the 
curate  of  Wilkinson's  father  at  the  Savoy,  and 
the  imagined  exemption  of  that  place  from  the 
operation  of  the  marriage  act  actually  exposed 
the  king's  chaplain  to  transportation.  The  anguish 
of  an  innocent  but  wounded  spirit  precipitated 
his  end  ;  the  government  of  that  time  persisting 
in  the  sacrifice  of  the  venerable  victim,  who,  con- 
trary to  law,  had  presumed  to  unite  the  willing  in 
the  holy  bands  of  matrimony,  without  the  publica- 
tion of  banns,  or  the  shorter  permission  of  Doctors 
Commons.  Mrs.  Wilkinson  in  vain  placed  a  peti- 
tion in  the  hand  of  George  the  Second.  Not  the 
slightest  notice  whatever  was  taken  of  it.  But  it 
was  odd  enough  that  this  catastrophe  was  brought 
on  by  the  officious  meddling  of  David  Garrick,  on 
the  occasion  of  Vemon's  marrying  Miss  Poitier. 
Such  recollections  rendered  "Rosina"  an  object 
of  great  interest  to  Tate  Wilkinson,  and  he  got  it 
up  with  his  utmost  ability. 

It  was  during  the  spring  meeting  at  York  this 
year  that  Mrs.  Jordan  had  one  of  those  early  les- 


MRS.   JORDAN  45 

sons,  which  are  hardly  to  be  remembered  without 
shuddering.  I  allude  to  the  appearance  there  of 
the  beautiful  Mrs.  Baddeley.  At  her  arrival  she 
impressed  her  audiences  in  the  most  favourable 
manner.  In  opera  she  performed  Clarissa,  Polly, 
and  Rosetta ;  and  Imogen  in  the  play  of  "  Cymbe- 
line,"  in  which  her  beautiful  countenance  used  to 
excite  the  greatest  interest.  Among  her  peculiari- 
ties was  an  immoderate  addiction  to  laudanum, 
which  has  the  power  of  bestowing  a  momentary 
vivacity,  subsiding  into  an  oblivion  of  care,  suc- 
ceeded by  a  wretchedness  which  itself  alone  can 
remove ;  the  patient  thus  lives  a  course  of  mental 
delusion,  neither  his  pleasures  nor  his  pains  being 
the  fair  effects  of  circumstances,  and  the  charmed 
life  bearing  a  fatality  about  it  infinitely  more  dread- 
ful than  the  natural  lot  from  which  it  has  escaped. 
It  may  reasonably  be  supposed  that  on  the  night 
of  her  benefit  she  sought  the  doubtful  aid  in  ques- 
tion, but  it  proved  a  treacherous  ally.  She  was 
unfortunately  lame  at  the  time,  and  intoxicated  to 
stupidity  by  the  fumes  of  the  opiate  she  had  swal- 
lowed. The  worst  of  it  was  that,  the  habit  not 
being  generally  known,  the  stupefaction  was  attrib- 
uted to  drunkenness,  and  a  disgust  taken,  which  is 
seldom,  or  rather  never,  quite  removed. 


46  MRS.   JORDAN 

The  sequel  of  this  unfortunate's  existence  may 
be  worth  a  second  paragraph.  She  soon  became 
idle,  disordered,  unsteady,  and  of  no  value  in  the 
theatre,  dropped  into  contempt  and  neglect,  and 
was  plundered  of  the  little  she  had,  by  one  of 
those  attached  friends  which  indolence  is  happy  to 
find,  and  of  which  it  is  invariably  the  prey.  Mrs. 
Baddeley  had  at  one  time  her  carriage,  and  every 
voluptuous  accompaniment  that  a  mere  sensualist 
can  enjoy :  but  her  wealth  mouldered  away,  insen- 
sibly and  unaccountably,  and  she  died  at  Edin- 
burgh shortly  after,  in  the  most  squalid  poverty 
and  disease,  in  a  state  of  mental  horror  which 
perhaps  opium  only  is  able  to  inflict  upon  us.  To 
the  last  she  was  supported  by  the  charity  of  the 
profession,  always  awake  to  a  sister's  claim ; 
though  on  this  occasion,  with  the  dreadful  reflec- 
tion that,  either  as  to  herself  or  society,  it  would 
have  been  better  if  her  release  had  earlier  arrived. 
By  which,  in  truth,  the  one  had  escaped  much 
inconceivable  torment,  and  the  other  the  burthen 
of  a  hopeless  benevolence. 

Whoever  has  attentively  observed  and  considered 
the  life  of  an  actress  may  often  wonder  that  the 
long  repetition  of  even  the  most  finished  characters 
does  not  diminish  the  power  of  the  charmer ;  or, 


MRS.  JORDAN  47 

if  he  does  not  look  at  it  in  this  way,  come  to  a 
not  very  favourable  decision,  that  the  whole  is 
quite  mechanical,  and  that,  like  a  timepiece  in 
order,  the  performance  of  one  day  is  exactly  simi- 
lar to  that  of  another,  equally  regular  as  to  the 
whole,  and  equally  striking  in  the  proper  situa- 
tions. But  there  is,  in  the  smoothest  passage 
through  a  theatre,  sufficient  to  ruffle  the  temper, 
to  annoy  the  self-love,  to  excite  the  jealousy  or 
the  dread  of  the  coldest  temperaments.  Every 
such  incident  renovates  the  charm  by  stimulating 
the  exertion ;  and  they  cannot  forget  the  public 
until  they  forget  themselves. 

But  to  return.  The  lesson  of  Mrs.  Baddeley  was 
a  "negative  instruction"  to  our  young  actress; 
she  had  another  of  a  very  different  kind,  in 
the  person  of  Mrs.  Mills,  subsequently  Mrs. 
John  Fawcett.  This  lady  had  a  zeal,  an  applica- 
tion, a  versatility  perhaps  unequalled  in  the  pro- 
fession ;  her  value  was  invaluable.  She  seemed 
to  be  informed  by  one  master  principle  only, — 
the  prosperity  of  the  company.  She  was  the 
steady  lever  of  the  daily  work,  she  was  the  prop 
on  any  emergency,  and  her  kindness  was  equal  to 
her  fidelity.  To  the  manager  her  services  were 
bound ;  but,  he  consenting,  she  would  study  any 


48  MRS.   JORDAN 

novelty,  deprive  herself  even  of  needful  rest,  to 
serve  the  benefit  of  any  brother  or  sister  in  the 
community.  At  the  death  of  her  first  husband, 
a  valuable  actor,  Mrs.  Mills  became  united  to  Mr. 
Fawcett,  and  maintained  her  honourable  estima- 
tion to  the  lamented  period  of  her  death  in  1797. 
Thus,  with  Cato,  the  Jordan  might  be  said  to  be 
"doubly  armed  "  as  an  actress. 

"  Her  death,  her  life,  her  bane  and  antidote, 
Were  both  before  her. 
This  in  a  moment  brings  her  to  an  end ; 
While  that  informs  her  she  shall  never  die." 

The  desire  to  see  this  charming  woman  in  Will- 
iam continued,  and  the  "Poor  Soldier"  being  got 
up  in  the  spring  of  1 784,  she  was  by  acclamation 
saluted  the  Patrick  of  the  piece,  and  it  was  pro- 
nounced to  be  unapproachable,  let  who  would 
contest  the  palm  with  her. 

There  was  another  lesson  taught  our  excellent 
actress  by  the  York  company,  —  the  art  of  morti- 
fying a  rival.  This  art  was  practised  in  its  high- 
est perfection  by  a  Mrs.  Ward,  a  competitor  with 
the  Jordan  in  the  male  attire,  and  remarkably  fond 
of  the  display.  This  lady's  husband  was  in  the 
band,  and  therefore,  we  must  presume,  fully  per- 


MRS.  JORDAN  49 

mitted  the  exhibition  of  his  wife's  charms,  since 
it  took  place  nightly  in  his  own  presence.  This 
lady  was  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  malignants,  who 
were  accustomed  to  take  their  seats  at  the  stage 
doors  while  Mrs.  Jordan  was  acting,  and,  by  every 
description  of  annoyance,  try  at  least  to  lessen 
her  power  by  disturbing  her  self-possession.  They 
persevered  in  this  cruelty  so  long,  that  at  last  the 
ingenuity  of  the  persecuted  taught  her  a  very 
delicate  "measure  of  revenge."  She  would,  with 
little  aid  from  the  imagination,  frequently  go  upon 
the  stage  with  her  eyelids  irritated  and  the  tear- 
drop starting  from  them,  as  though  ill  or  recently 
affected  by  injury.  This  became  noticed  by  the 
audience  and  begat  inquiry,  whether  their  favour- 
ite was  indisposed,  or  anything  had  offended  her  ? 
She  took  care  that  several  friends  should  be  ready 
with  the  proper  answer  to  the  query,  and  thus  the 
ungenerous  treatment  recoiled  upon  the  heads  of 
her  enemies.  There  was  a  law,  to  be  sure,  in 
the  York  theatre,  as  well  as  others,  to  prevent 
any  such  occupancy  of  the  stage-doors ;  but  there 
are  subjects  too  mighty  for  any  theatrical  laws, 
and  the  manager  made  assurance  doubly  sure  by 
calling  in  the  aid  of  a  padlock  whenever  the  doors 
were  not  essential  to  the  stage  business.  Thus  he 


50  MRS.   JORDAN 

chastised  the  malignity  of  the  invaders,  and  the 
punishment  was  not  the  less  felt  for  not  being 
personally  administered.  Any  individual  to  whom 
the  cause  was  hinted  could  say,  "It  may  be  so. 
I  won't  assert  that  no  member  of  the  company 
might  disturb  Mrs.  Jordan ;  but,  for  my  own  part, 
I  never  sat  at  the  door  but  from  the  fair  curiosity 
to  see  how  she  would  act  in  particular  situations, 
and  consider  the  points  she  made  for  my  own  im- 
provement ;  and  this,  madam,  my  own  husband 
commanded  me  to  do." 

Although  the  character  of  Mrs.  Jordan's  acting 
was  truly  personal,  by  which  I  mean  that  in  every 
part  she  played  she  infused  herself  more  com- 
pletely  than  any  other  actress  has  done,  yet  still 
she  did  not  deny  her  performance  the  benefit  of 
what  other  minds  had  thrown  out,  and  very  will- 
ingly adopted  the  points  of  other  artists  when 
they  naturally  combined  with  her  own.  There 
was  an  actress  in  the  company,  of  great  comic 
power,  though  very  unequal  in  her  performances ; 
she  was  the  wife  of  Brown,  -who,  in  the  years  1 786 
and  1787,  became  the  Harlequin  of  Covent  Gar- 
den Theatre.  Mrs.  Brown,  in  her  range  of  per- 
formances, acted  the  Country  Girl,  a  character 
which,  however  it  happened,  until  then  had  never 


MRS.  JORDAN  51 

attracted  the  particular  attention  of  Mrs.  Jordan. 
Our  heroine  paid  her  the  compliment  of  seeing 
and  deeply  considering  this  performance ;  she  no- 
ticed the  business  of  the  part,  and  in  the  sallies  of 
a  performer  then  by  no  means  young,  saw  the 
ground  she  determined  herself  to  occupy,  with 
more  seasonable  graces  and  more  truly  girlish 
hilarity  and  whim.  It  was  hence  said  that  Mrs. 
Brown  taught  her  to  play  the  part,  but  this  was 
by  no  means  the  case;  for  at  that  time,  as  it 
proved  in  town  shortly  after,  the  preeminence  of 
Mrs.  Jordan  was  admitted  by  all  —  her  elastic 
spring,  her  peculiarly  artless  action,  her  laugh,  and 
the  rich  tones  of  her  articulate  voice  were  at  all 
times  peculiar  and  triumphant. 

About  this  time  an  incident  occurred  to  which 
the  heart  and  memory  of  Jordan  were  feelingly 
alive.  A  young  lady,  not  more  than  fifteen,  at- 
tracted perhaps  by  the  name  of  the  manager, 
which  was  then  her  own,  applied  to  Tate  Wilkin- 
son for  an  engagement.  She  had  her  parents 
with  her,  who  depended  upon  her  for  their  subsist- 
ence ;  her  musical  talent  was  even  then  consider- 
able, her  figure  small,  but  extremely  neat,  her 
features  beautiful  and  interesting.  My  readers 
will  have  no  difficulty  in  admitting  all  this,  and 


52  MRS.   JORDAN 

more,  when  I  tell  them  the  young  lady  became  the 
late  Mrs.  Mountain,  of  Covent  Garden  Theatre. 
Wilkinson  thought  himself  so  circumstanced  at 
this  juncture  that,  with  some  lingering  compunc- 
tion for  doing  so,  he  brought  himself  to  decline 
the  engagement ;  she  was  at  liberty,  it  was  true,  to 
volunteer  her  talents  for  any  of  the  company  who 
might  accept  her  aid.  For  one  benefit  she  acted 
the  Maid  of  the  Mill,  and  fought  her  way  through 
the  popular  "  Lecture  on  Heads,"  by  George  Alex- 
ander Stevens.  This  made  a  little  noise  in  the 
stage  circle,  and  Mr.  Inchbald,  the  son-in-law  of 
the  famous  Mrs.  Inchbald,  thought  it  worth  while 
to  make  her  a  handsome  offer  to  act  Rosetta,  in 
"  Love  in  a  Village,"  on  his  benefit  night,  which 
was  the  3d  of  December,  1784.  Her  impression 
in  this  character  determined  the  manager,  and  he 
engaged  her,  though  it  lost  him  the  friendship  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Powell,  since  at  the  Norwich  theatre. 
She  played  for  her  namesake,  the  manager's  night, 
Stella,  in  "Robin  Hood,"  on  the  2ist;  and  need- 
ing some  present  relief,  he  graciously  proposed 
a  benefit  to  her,  which  was  most  thankfully  ac- 
cepted, and  on  the  3ist  of  December  "  Lionel  and 
Clarissa"  was  performed,  Colonel  Oldboy  by  the 
manager,  Clarissa  by  Miss  Wilkinson,  first  studied 


MRS.   JORDAN  53 

on  that  occasion,  and  (what  may  not  be  done  with 
benevolence  working  at  the  root  ?)  Lionel  by  the 
charmer  Jordan,  who  came  forward  with  the 
warmth  of  a  true  sister,  and  imparted  to  the  char- 
acter of  Lionel  a  feature  of  which  its  male  repre- 
sentatives, for  the  most  part,  have  seldom  known 
the  value,  or  have  been  unable  to  attain,  its  sensi- 
ble utterance.  Here,  as  in  her  own  case,  Mrs. 
Jordan  happily  saw  an  interesting  young  lady 
patronised  equally  for  her  filial  affection  and  her 
talents.  The  opera  was  admired,  and  the  famous 
"  Lecture  on  Heads "  rapturously  applauded. 
C  'est  le  premier  pas  qui  coute.  Miss  Wilkinson 
had  now  a  smooth  road  under  her  feet,  and  always 
spoke  with  pleasure  of  the  kind  aid  which  Mrs. 
Jordan  had  rendered  at  a  time  when  it  was  almost 
vital  to  herself  and  her  family.  The  metropolis 
puts  the  seal  upon  stage  merits,  and  a  town  en- 
gagement has  a  steady  comfort  and  respectability, 
infinitely  preferable  to  the  hurry  and  fatigue  of 
provincial  business ;  but  actors  are  always  fond  of 
detailing  their  early  adventures,  and  perhaps  the 
various  conditions  of  human  occupation  do  not 
afford  one  so  abounding  in  the  essentials  of  a 
good  story  as  the  life  of  a  country  comedian. 
The  season  of  1785  was  the  last  that  Mrs.  Jor- 


54  MRS.   JORDAN 

dan  acted  as  a  member  of  Wilkinson's  company. 
It  is  a  singular  circumstance  that  she  should  have 
omitted  to  practise  the  usual  address  which  leaves 
regret  behind  departure.  I  presume  that  she 
heard  occasionally  from  Smith  on  the  subject  of 
a  town  engagement,  though  her  removal  to  Drury 
Lane  Theatre  was  not  finally  settled  till  the  au- 
tumn of  that  year.  There  is  a  restlessness  that 
precedes  any  material  change  of  our  condition, 
that  breaks  up  our  harmony  with  the  existing  rela- 
tions of  life.  Mrs.  Jordan,  in  the  opinion  of  her 
manager,  was  now  grown  careless  and  indifferent ; 
her  desire  to  oblige  diminished,  her  self-will  in- 
creased, and  she  was  capricious  enough  to  excuse 
herself  from  obeying  some  calls  upon  her,  which 
she  showed  herself  equally  able  and  unwilling  to 
gratify.  He  gives  an  instance  which  we  shall  not 
shun,  because  censurable.  For  the  benefit  of  Mr. 
Mills,  March  15,  1785,  she  was  announced  in  the 
bills  to  sing  a  song  from  "  Summer's  Amusement," 
at  the  end  of  the  third  act  of  "  Cymbeline,"  and  to 
act  after  the  play  the  favourite  character  of  Pat- 
rick in  the  "  Poor  Soldier,"  and  sing  the  songs  of 
the  piece  in  course.  But  she  absolutely  refused 
to  come  on  between  the  acts  of  "Cymbeline" 
merely  to  warble  a  ballad,  and,  whoever  was  disap- 


MRS.  JORDAN  55 

pointed,  or  whatever  might  be  the  result,  an- 
nounced her  determination  to  persist  —  nothing 
in  the  world  should  alter  her.  She  was  indis- 
posed, and  would  not  do  it.  With  this  mood  of 
hers  it  was  not  likely  that  either  manager  or  audi- 
ence should  concur.  Had  she  been  really  ill,  her 
course  should  have  been  to  stay  at  home  and  let 
an  apology  be  made  for  her.  This,  however  dis- 
tressing to  the  actor,  whom  it  would  compel  to 
disappoint  his  patrons,  if  really  true,  must  be 
borne;  but  to  choose  what  she  would  do  against 
the  positive  pledge  of  the  playbill  was  a  sort  of 
treasonable  rebellion,  to  be  subdued  by  force  and 
arms.  She  came  to  the  house,  and  sullenly 
dressed  herself  at  once  for  Patrick.  She  came 
early  enough  to  hear,  for  it  was  impossible  to  en- 
joy, the  gathering  and  the  bursting  of  the  storm. 
Mills  came  on  the  stage  to  address  the  house ;  but 
what  could  he  say  against  that  special  bond,  the 
playbill  ?  The  audience  would  hear  nothing  but 
the  song  from  Mrs.  Jordan ;  so,  at  last,  on  she 
came,  very  pale,  fainting  against  the  frontispiece 
in  the  dress  of  the  Poor  Soldier  himself,  and  thus 
suited  and  very  much  out  of  sorts,  was  constrained 
to  warble  "  In  the  Prattling  Hours  of  Youth,"  com- 
posed by  Doctor  Arnold,  and  very  pleasing.  The 


56  MRS.  JORDAN 

words,  perhaps,  have  no  great  meaning  in  them, 
for  the  joint  authors  of  the  opera  were  Miles  and 
Miles  Peter  Andrews.  The  manager  suggests 
that  the  audience,  perhaps,  might  not  have  con- 
quered had  the  actress  taken  her  benefit ;  as  that 
was  yet  to  come,  "her  poverty,  but  not  her  will 
consented,"  and  they  were  obeyed,  but  not  grati- 
fied. Illness  cannot  be  soon  dismissed,  whether 
real  or  fancied,  in  the  face  of  the  public. 

On  Tuesday,  April  26,  1785,  Mrs.  Jordan  had 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  that  great  actress,  Mrs. 
Yates,  in  her  favourite  Margaret  of  Anjou,  in 
Franklin's  "Earl  of  Warwick."  This  was  her 
last  public  appearance  but  one,  in  the  following 
June,  when  she  acted  for  the  imbecile  Bellamy, 
once  the  rival  of  Gibber  herself.  The  farce  after 
the  tragedy  was  "Cymon,"  thus  cast:  Sylvia, 
Miss  Wilkinson  ;  Fatima,  Mrs.  Jordan ;  Dorcas, 
Mrs.  Brown.  One  should  have  expected,  from 
such  an  actor  as  Richard  Yates,  something  like 
a  sound  judgment  in  his  own  art,  but  he  thus 
spoke  of  the  fair  trine :  "  Miss  Wilkinson,  very 
pleasing  and  promising;  Mrs.  Brown,  the  height 
of  excellence ;  Mrs.  Jordan,  merely  a  piece  of 
theatrical  mediocrity."  But  I  am  apt  to  think  she 
might  not  choose  to  exert  herself.  Indeed,  her 


MRS.   JORDAN  57 

benefit  at  Leeds  was  very  thinly  attended  on 
the  25th  of  July,  though  her  Imogen  had  always 
been  a  favourite  ;  and  she  added  the  "  Fair  Ameri- 
can," an  opera  by  Pilon,  which  was  thought  at- 
tractive. The  same  people,  when  she  had  visited 
London,  crowded  the  same  seats  to  suffocation. 
What  had  changed  more  than  the  circumstances 
of  the  actress?  A  good  deal  of  prophecy  was 
sported  on  her  intended  journey  to  London.  One 
of  her  rivals  in  male  costume  told  the  manager 
that,  "when  he  had  lost  his  great  treasure  (the 
term  he  was  fond  of  applying  to  the  Jordan),  it 
would  soon  be  turned  back  upon  his  hands,  and 
it  would  be  glad  to  come,  if  he  would  accept  it." 
The  retort  courteous  was  addressed  to  the  same 
manager,  for  her  daughter,  by  Mrs.  Bland,  who 
being  seated  at  the  stage-door,  while  Mrs.  Robin- 
son was  on  the  stage,  "  begged,  as  an  act  of  kind- 
ness, that  he  would  inform  her  when  « that  fright ' 
had  done  speaking  and  acting,  for  it  was  so  horrid 
she  could  not  look  at  her."  Now  the  fact  really 
was  that  this  "  fright "  was  a  very  pretty  woman, 
somewhat  refined  in  her  manners  and  utterance, 
and  so  peculiarly  neat  in  her  attire  that  it  was 
a  common  compliment  to  say  that  the  Graces 
attended  her  toilet. 


$8  MRS.  JORDAN 

Mrs.  Siddons  herself  saw  Mrs.  Jordan  at  York, 
in  the  month  of  August,  1785,  and  seemed  to 
think  (by  which  I  suppose  Tate  implies  said)  that 
"she  was  better  where  she  was,  than  to  venture 
on  the  London  boards."  Alas !  she  did  not  sus- 
pect how  soon  the  "unthought  of"  Country  Girl 
would  even  number  carriages  with  her  in  the  long 
procession  to  Drury  Lane  Theatre. 

William  Woodfall,  it  may  be  observed,  gave  the 
same  advice  to  Mrs.  Siddons,  that  she  should  keep 
to  small  theatres  in  the  country,  where  she  could 
be  heard ;  she  was  too  weak  for  the  London  stages. 
This  indeed  at  the  time  was  the  fact ;  but  let  me 
add,  in  behalf  of  the  great  genius  of  tragedy,  that, 
had  the  Cumaean  Sybil  herself  announced  the  more 
than  rival  progress  of  the  boy  Betty,  she  would 
have  been  credited,  perhaps,  by  the  Muse  of 
neither  Tragedy  nor  Comedy,  though  such  a  poet 
as  Virgil  had  added  to  her  ravings  the  charms  of 

immortal  verse. 

"  Can  such  things  be, 
And  overcome  us  like  a  summer  cloud, 
Without  our  special  wonder  ?  " 

Her  last  performance  as  a  member  of  the  com- 
pany was  at  Wakefield,  on  Friday,  Sept.  9,  1785, 
in  the  favourite  "  Poor  Soldier,"  from  which  place 


MRS.   JORDAN  59 

she  set  off  for  London  with  no  great  cheer  of 
mind,  for  she  was  never  sanguine,  nor  did  the 
long  experience  of  her  popularity  ever  completely 
divest  her  of  alarm.  Some  confidence  she  might 
place  in  Mr.  Smith's  judgment,  but  then  to  act 
the  second  parts  in  tragedy  to  the  towering  gran- 
deur and  deliberate  style  of  Mrs.  Siddons  could 
not  be  contemplated  without  dismay.  As  to  the 
salary,  the  preliminary  condition  went  no  farther 
than  four  pounds  per  week,  and  if  it  stopped  there, 
her  change  of  place  was  no  advantage,  since  her 
circumstances  could  not  improve.  The  town  stamp, 
to  be  sure,  gave  a  currency,  but  then  the  weight 
was  to  be  considered,  and  the  fashion  to  be  veri- 
fied. If  her  first  article  was  not  soon  cancelled,  it 
(to  use  Mrs.  Robinson's  neuter  pronoun)  would  be 
glad  to  get  back  again  to  York  and  find  its  former 
station  unoccupied.  But  something,  in  all  these 
cases,  must  be  risked.  The  state  of  the  Drury 
Lane  and  Covent  Garden  companies  is  extremely 
well  known,  in  our  country  theatres,  from  the  cir- 
culation of  our  newspapers ;  in  addition,  the  man- 
agers of  such  concerns  are  in  correspondence 
continually  with  some  town  friends,  who  inform 
them  of  everything  material  to  their  interest. 
After  much  reflection,  Mrs.  Jordan  thought  she 


60  MRS.  JORDAN 

saw  a  line  open  to  her,  of  the  youthful  and  tender 
in  tragedy  or  Shakespearian  comedy,  with  the 
whole  class  of  romps  either  in  the  middle  comedy 
or  the  modern  farce ;  she  there  resolved  to  make 
her  mark,  not  perhaps  because  she  absolutely 
thought  it  best  suited  her  own  powers,  for  this 
it  is  probable  she  never  was  fully  convinced  of, 
but  because  there  she  would  interfere  no  other- 
wise with  Mrs.  Siddons,  or  Miss  Farren,  or  Miss 
Pope,  than  as  popularity  might  so  far  divide  with 
those  ladies  the  honours  of  public  patronage,  and 
the  smiles  of  a  successful  management.  To  the 
policy,  perhaps  propriety,  of  this  decision,  on  many 
accounts,  neither  Sheridan  nor  King  offered  any 
objection ;  and  it  removed  all  such  enmity  as 
might  be  expected  from  invading  the  business 
of  any  other  established  favourite.  With  her 
patron  Smith  she  was  not  likely  to  act  much, 
unless  she  came  into  tragedy:  as  the  gentleman 
in  comedy,  he  was  most  frequently  at  the  side  of 
Miss  Farren,  and  unquestionably  the  most  accom- 
plished man  with  whom  she  ever  played ;  for 
Palmer  was  never  perfectly  the  gay  honourable 
man  of  the  world,  however  plausible,  insinuating, 
and  graceful  in  display,  and  such  qualities  on  the 
stage,  as  in  life  itself,  are  rather  the  means  by 


MRS.  JORDAN  61 

which  the  designing  succeed,  than  the  manifes- 
tations of  the  truly  valuable  in  human  character. 
Let  the  reader  conceive  these  two  actors  to  have 
exchanged  characters  as  the  Charles  and  Joseph 
of  the  "School  for  Scandal." 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Ascendency  of  Mrs.  Siddons  —  Straggle  of  Covent  Garden 
—  Mrs.  Abington  —  Mr.  Henderson  —  Miss  Farren  Compared 
with  the  Former  Abington  —  The  Hopes  Entertained  that 
the  "  Country  Girl "  might  Revive  the  Train  of  Comedy  — 
Within  and  Without-door  Talk  of  Her — Her  First  Appear- 
ance, on  the  i8th  of  October,  1785  —  Mrs.  Inchbald's  Opin- 
ion of  Her  —  Fulness  and  Comic  Richness  of  Tone  not 
Provincialism  —  Excited  Unbounded  Laughter — Her  Male 
Figure  —  Her  Letter  Scene  —  About  Nineteen,  the  Age  of 
Miss  Peggy  —  Henderson  —  Mr.  Harris  —  Mrs.  Inchbald  — 
Her  Stepson  and  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Her  Viola,  in  "  Twelfth 
Night,"  Particularly  Examined  —  Barbarous  Curtailments  of 
the  Play  —  Viola  Succeeded  by  Imogen  —  Mrs.  Clive  Dies  — 
Compared,  in  Some  Points,  with  Mrs.  Jordan  —  The  "  Heir- 
ess" Had  No  Part  for  Mrs.  Jordan—"  She  Would  and  She 
Would  Not,"  Her  Hypolita  —  The  "  Irish  Widow,"  on  Her 
Benefit  Night  —  Now,  Certainly,  the  Great  Support  of  the 
Theatre. 

i  HE  success  of  Mrs.  Siddons  had  been 
too  dazzling  not  to  excite  envy  in  the 
profession.  If  there  could  be  any  com- 
petition with  her  excellence,  it  was  in  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  dead  rather  than  the  performances  of 
the  living  that  it  was  to  be  found.  Mrs.  Siddons, 

62 


MRS.  JORDAN  63 

too,  maintained  a  distance  in  her  manners  that 
irritated  the  self-love  of  those  with  whom  she 
mixed  in  the  business  of  the  stage ;  and  she  was 
supposed  to  show  rather  strongly  the  conscious- 
ness of  living  familiarly  with  the  higher  orders. 
She  had  in  fact  monopolised  their  attention  and 
their  patronage.  Her  nights  of  performance  alone 
were  well  attended,  and  she  had  two  benefits 
each  season,  for  which  everything  fashionable  re- 
served itself ;  and  the  benefits  of  others,  if  she  did 
not  act  for  them,  were  reduced  nearly  to  the 
actor's  private  connection,  and  many  were  disap- 
pointed in  their  little  circles  by  an  apology  that 
ended  with,  "  You  know  we  must  go  on  Mrs.  Sid- 
dons' s  night ;  and  we  then  leave  town  directly." 

Indeed,  the  very  performances  of  the  stage  had 
little  attention  in  which  the  great  actress  did  not 
appear;  and  the  farces  after  her  tragedy  were 
acted  with  slender  effect,  and  to  audiences  dimin- 
ished to  half  then-  number  —  the  genteeler  portion 
for  the  most  part  quitting  the  theatre  when  the 
tragedy  ended,  that  the  impression  she  had  made 
might  remain  undisturbed.  The  delicate  and  feel- 
ing, after  the  agony  they  had  endured,  were  com- 
monly as  much  exhausted  by  their  sympathy  as 
the  actress  had  been  by  her  exertions ;  and  they 


64  MRS.  JORDAN 

really  were  unable  to  enjoy  the  ensuing  pleas- 
antry, which  five  minutes  and  a  green  curtain 
only  divided  from  their  sorrows.  By  going,  they 
secured  the  privilege  too  of  talking  solely  of  the 
fashionable  idol,  and  were  content  to  be  listened 
to  simply  as  talking  about  her  who  interested 
everybody,  and  whom  all  were  solicitous  to  be 
thought  to  know.  For  a  time  it  may  be  supposed 
the  other  theatre  struggled  against  the  stream. 
Mrs.  Abington  had  some  claims  upon  fashionable 
life,  whose  taste  she  had  formerly  led,  and  with 
the  aid  of  Henderson  revived  the  charm  that  had 
attended  the  wit  and  the  perverse  courtship  of 
Benedick  and  Beatrice.  But  she  had  passed  her 
meridian  ;  and  although  I  am  perfectly  satisfied 
that  Miss  Farren,  in  comedy,  never  approached 
her  nearer  than  Mrs.  Esten  did  Mrs.  Siddons,  in 
tragedy,  —  that  she  never  took  her  ground,  as  one 
may  say,  in  a  style  of  such  absolute  authority,  — 
yet  the  beauty  of  her  countenance,  and  at  least 
ladylike  appearance  of  her  figure  and  manners, 
the  sense  that  constantly  proceeded  from  her,  and 
the  refined  style  of  her  utterance,  her  youth,  and 
fashionable  connection,  at  length  established  her 
in  the  cast  of  genteel  and  sentimental  comedy, 
and  I  found  the  younger  part  of  the  critical  world 


MRS.  JORDAN  65 

little  aware  how  much  Lady  Teazle  lost  in  being 
transferred  to  Miss  Farren.  But  all  this  made  no 
6clat ;  it  did  not  injure  one  feather  in  the  crest  of 
the  tragic  queen.  Something  that,  if  it  did  not 
destroy,  at  least  divided  with  her,  the  public  atten- 
tion, was  the  daily  hope  of  the  troop,  who  found 
themselves  nothing  in  her  presence ;  and  every 
eye  was  turned  to  the  "  Country  Girl,"  who  might 
put  matters  upon  a  footing  nearer  equality,  and, 
by  establishing  herself,  revive  the  public  recollec- 
tion that  such  men  as  King,  Smith,  Palmer,  Par- 
sons, Dodd,  and  Bannister  merited  to  be  at  least 
not  totally  deserted,  and  were  not,  perhaps,  with- 
out important  claims  among  those  who  promote 
the  happiness  of  the  human  race. 

But  whatever  the  rehearsals  on  the  stage  of 
Drury  might  have  shown  of  the  new  actress,  the 
without-door  world,  I  remember,  was  not  very 
much  assailed.  The  puff  preliminary  had  not 
been  greatly  resorted  to,  and  the  common  inquiries 
produced  the  usual  answers  of  discretion.  "  I 
think  she  is  clever.  One  thing  I  can  tell  you,  she 
is  like  nothing  you  have  been  used  to.  Her  laugh 
is  good,  but  then  she  is,  or  seems  to  be,  very 
nervous.  We  shall  see.  But  I  am  sure  we  want 
something." 


66  MRS.  JORDAN 

At  length,  on  Tuesday,  the  i8th  of  October, 
1785,  the  curtain  drew  up  to  the  "Country  Girl" 
of  Mrs.  Jordan.  This  was  a  very  judicious  altera- 
tion by  Garrick  (with  perhaps  some  regard  to 
Lee's)  from  the  "  Country  Wife "  of  Wycherley. 
One  is  astonished,  in  referring  to  the  original  in 
that  poet's  volume,  to  see  the  impurities  which 
encrusted  it,  and  that  any  man,  capable  of  all  that 
is  sufficient  for  comic  effect  in  it,  should  have  so 
bad  a  taste  as  to  pollute  either  his  mind  or  his 
paper  with  the  vile  bestialities  stuck  about  the 
business,  and  really  impeding  the  action.  There 
is  little  now  to  offend  even  the  scrupulous,  and 
the  comedy  is  extremely  lively  when  a  Peggy, 
the  author's  Pinchwife,  can  be  found. 

Mrs.  Inchbald  knew  her  in  the  York  company, 
and  records  of  her  that  "  she  came  to  town  with 
no  report  in  her  favour,  to  elevate  her  above  a 
very  moderate  salary  (four  pounds),  or  to  attract 
more  than  a  very  moderate  house  when  she  ap- 
peared. But  here  moderation  stopped.  She  at 
once  displayed  such  consummate  art,  with  such 
bewitching  nature,  —  such  excellent  sense,  and 
such  innocent  simplicity,  —  that  her  auditors  were 
boundless  in  their  plaudits,  and  so  warm  in  her 
praises,  when  they  left  the  theatre,  that  their 


MRS.  JORDAN  67 

friends   at  home   would   not   give   credit   to   the 
extent  of  their  eulogiums." 

Nothing  can  be  more  exactly  true  than  this  re- 
port. I  agree  also  with  that  lady  in  the  melody 
of  her  voice ;  but  ^in  the  remark  that  "  her  pronun- 
ciation was  imperfect,"  I  cannot  concur.  "  Most 
of  her  words  were  uttered  with  a  kind  of  provincial 
dialect."  It  was  not  of  that  description  at  all. 
It  was  a  principle  of  giving  to  certain  words  a  ful- 
ness and  comic  richness,  which  rendered  them 
more  truly  representatives  of  the  ideas  they  stood 
for;  it  was  expressing  all  the  juice  from  the  grape 
of  the  laughing  vine.  To  instance  once  for  all. 
She  knew  the  importance  attached  to  a  best  gown. 
Let  the  reader  recollect  the  full  volume  of  sound 
which  she  threw  into  those  words,  and  he  will 
understand  me.  It  was  not  provincial  dialect  — 
it  was  humourous  delivery,  and,  as  a  charm,  only 
inferior  to  her  laugh.  Again,  "  But  I  don't "  — 
« I  won't "  —  "  Bud  "  —  "  Grum,"  and  a  hundred 
others,  to  which  she  communicated  such  blurt  sig- 
nificance, such  whimsical  cadence,  as  showed  she 
was  the  great  mistress  of  comic  utterance,  and 
aware  of  all  the  infinite  varieties  which  modify  the 
effects  of  the  human  voice.  Henderson  had  the 
same  sort  of  talent  without  the  perfect  voice.  It 


68  MRS.  JORDAN 

was  best  displayed  in  his  reading.  A  reflection 
upon  this  hint  will  show  what  a  narrow,  imperfect, 
and  even  delusive  record  printing  must  needs  be, 
of  what  in  living  speech  accompanied  the  utterance 
of  the  mere  words.  Such  was  Mrs.  Jordan  when 
she  burst  upon  the  metropolis,  in  the  year  1785. 
Perhaps  no  actress  ever  excited  so  much  laughter. 
The  low  comedian  has  a  hundred  resorts  by  which 
risibility  may  be  produced.  In  addition  to  a 
ludicrous  cast  of  features,  he  may  resort,  if  he 
chooses,  to  the  buffoonery  of  the  fair ;  he  may 
dress  himself  ridiculously;  he  may  border  even 
upon  indecency  in  his  action,  and  be  at  least  a 
general  hint  of  double  entendre,  to  those  whose 
minds  are  equally  impure.  But  the  actress  has 
nothing  beyond  the  mere  words  she  utters,  but 
what  is  drawn  from  her  own  hilarity,  and  the  ex- 
pression of  features,  which  never  submit  to  exag- 
geration. She  cannot  pass  by  the  claims  of  her 
sex,  and  self-love  will  preserve  her  from  any  will- 
ing diminution  of  her  personal  beauty.  How 
exactly  had  this  child  of  nature  calculated  her 
efficacy,  that  no  intention  on  her  part  was  ever 
missed,  and,  from  first  to  last,  the  audience  re- 
sponded uniformly  in  an  astonishment  of  delight. 
In  the  third  act  they  more  clearly  saw  what  gave 


MRS.  JORDAN  69 

the  elasticity  to  her  step.  She  is  made  to  assume 
the  male  attire ;  and  the  great  painter  of  the  age 
pronounced  her  figure  the  neatest  and  most  per- 
fect in  symmetry  that  he  had  ever  seen.  This 
distinction  remained  with  her  a  long  time,  not- 
withstanding the  many  family  encroachments 
upon  the  public  pleasure. 

But  her  fertility  as  an  actress  was  at  its  height 
in  the  letter  scene,  perhaps  the  most  perfect  of  all 
her  efforts,  and  the  best  jeu  de  thtdtre  known  with- 
out mechanism.  The  very  pen  and  ink  were  made 
to  express  the  rustic  petulance  of  the  writer  of  the 
first  epistle,  and  the  eager  delight  that  composed 
the  second,  which  was  to  be  despatched  instead  of 
it  to  her  lover.  King  was  her  Moody  upon  this 
occasion,  but  I  thought  Wrought  on  afterward 
gave  more  effect  to  the  intimidation.  He  had  a 
vast  deal  of  truth  in  his  comedy,  and  concealed 
every  appearance  of  the  actor's  art. 

There  was  a  seeming  coincidence  in  the  ages  of 
the  actress  and  the  character  she  played.  The 
play  concludes  with  some  rhymes,  no  great  achieve- 
ment, it  is  true,  —  I  suppose  them  Garrick's,  —  in 
which  Miss  Peggy  apologises  for  deserting  her  Bud : 

"  I've  reasons  will  convince  you  all,  and  strong  ones ; 
Except  old  folks,  who  hanker  after  young  ones  : 


70  MRS.  JORDAN 

Bud  was  so  passionate,  and  grown  so  thrifty, 
'Twas  a  sad  life :  —  and  then  he  was  near  fifty  1  — 
I'm  but  nineteen." 

Perhaps  Mrs.  Jordan  looked  rather  more,  not  in 
her  action,  which  was  juvenile  to  the  last,  but  the 
comic  maturity  of  her  expression  seemed  to  an- 
nounce a  longer  experience  of  life  and  of  the  stage 
than  could  have  been  attained  at  nineteen.  She 
retired  that  night  from  the  theatre,  happy  to  the 
extent  of  her  wishes,  and  satisfied  that  she  would 
not  long  be  rated  on  the  treasurer's  books  at  four 
pounds  per  week.  Smith  congratulated  with  her 
very  sincerely.  He  had  bestowed  upon  the  theatre, 
which  he  loved,  a  new  and  a  powerful  magnet,  able 
to  attract  on  the  off  nights  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  and 
even  strengthen  those  of  tragedy ;  which,  with  no 
greater  force  than  Cumberland  evinced  in  the 
"  Carmelite,"  began  to  need  something  auxiliary. 

Henderson  was  now  acting  the  "  Roman  Father  " 
at  the  other  house,  in  which  he  made  wonderful 
effect.  He  had  seen  Mrs.  Jordan  in  Ireland  and 
at  York,  and  was  fully  satisfied  of  her  great  merit ; 
but  Mr.  Harris  did  not  feel  it,  or  was  on  the 
opposition  side  of  the  house:  he  said  she  would 
be  an  excellent  Filch ;  and  here  he  prophesied, 
for  she  stole  away  the  hearts  of  the  town,  and 


MRS.  JORDAN  71 

tried  all  his  skill  as  a  manager,  great  as  it  con- 
fessedly was. 

The  "  Country  Girl  "  was  repeated  on  the  third 
night  of  performance  at  Drury  Lane ;  that  is, 
"  Braganza  "  and  "  Measure  for  Measure  "  only 
intervening,  so  that  they  allowed  her  till  the  Mon- 
day of  the  following  week,  when  the  two  houses 
commenced  acting  together  for  the  season,  and  she 
had  the  honour  of  dividing  the  town  that  evening 
with  Henderson,  who  repeated  his  "  Roman  Father" 
with  Mrs.  Inchbald's  amusing  farce  of  "  Appear- 
ance Is  Against  Them."  The  sudden  passage  of 
this  lady's  muse  from  neglect  to  managerial  wel- 
come —  the  talent  and  the  specimens  remaining 
exactly  the  same  during  the  opposite  sentences,  — 
shows  how  little  real  judgment  enters  into  such 
decisions.  The  success  of  a  "Mogul  Tale,"  a 
farcical  extravaganza,  founded  on  the  balloon 
mania,  and  unworthy  of  the  press,  at  length  ren- 
dered Mr.  Harris  and  Mr.  Colman  alike  willing  to 
afford  her  a  clear  stage  for  her  talents  as  a  writer. 
As  an  actress  she  had  been  some  time  in  the 
Covent  Garden  company.  Her  beauty  had  sug- 
gested her  as  a  successor  to  Mrs.  Hartley ;  but 
she  never  could  absolutely  clear  her  utterance  from 
the  effects  of  an  impediment,  which  has  given  rise 


72  MRS.  JORDAN 

to  some  amusing  stories  among  the  minor  wits  of 
the  theatre. 

Mrs.  Jordan  was  said  to  have  discovered  some 
partiality  to  this  lady's  stepson  by  Mr.  Inchbald's 
first  wife.  The  humble  Nell,  of  the  York  stage, 
had  not  the  necessary  weight  in  the  balance  to 
determine  the  gentleman.  After  her  town  experi- 
ment, he  began  to  estimate  her  value  by  the 
popular  standard,  and  brought  himself  to  make 
proposals,  which  were  seriously  declined.  He 
might  have  been  honoured,  had  his  delicacy  for- 
bade him  to  entertain  any  notion  of  a  union,  cir- 
cumstanced as  the  young  lady  was  ;  but  when  he 
could  teach  his  principle  to  give  way  to  his  inter- 
est, he  merited  the  rejection  of  his  temptation  for 
a  weightier.  The  mention  of  Mrs.  Inchbald 
introduced  this  anecdote  before  its  actual  period  ; 
but  if  the  lady's  turn  to  refuse  was  subsequent 
to  our  present  date,  the  gentleman's  took  place 
before  it ;  and  it  may  as  well,  therefore,  stand 
where  we  have  been  led  by  any  thread  to  work  it 
into  the  narrative. 

On  the  28th  of  the  month,  Mrs.  Jordan  acted 
Peggy  a  third  time,  and  her  bark  might  be  said  to 
have  safely  landed  her.  She  now  was  persuaded 
to  indulge  the  town  with  a  steadier  gaze  at  her 


MRS.   JORDAN  73 

male  figure,  and  chose  the  part  of  Viola  in  Shake- 
speare's "Twelfth  Night,"  a  character  of  infinite 
delicacy  and  enchanting  eloquence ;  one,  in  a 
word,  where  the  great  poet  exhibits  a  sensibility 
so  truly  feminine,  that  in  his  world  of  wonders  it 
has  scarcely  yet  excited  sufficient  critical  praise. 
We  were  now  to  make  the  experiment  how  her 
"provincial  dialect"  would  be  borne  in  the  music 
of  verse,  such  as  even  Shakespeare  has  seldom 
written.  "  It  was  all  well  enough,"  said  the  vener- 
able stagers,  "while  she  could  romp  it  away  with 
a  jump  and  a  laugh ;  but  what  will  they  say  to 
her  in  the  loving  and  beloved  Viola,  who  acts  so 
tenderly  and  '  speaks  so  masterly '  all  the  science 
of  the  passion,  in  words  that  '  echo  truly '  all  its 
best  feelings  ? "  What !  why,  that  the  mere 
melody  of  her  utterance  brought  tears  into  the 
eyes,  and  that  passion  had  never  had  so  modest 
and  enchanting  an  interpreter.  In  a  word,  it  was 
Nature  herself  showing  us  the  heart  of  her  own 
mystery,  and  at  the  same  time  throwing  out  a 
proud  defiance  to  Art  to  approach  it  for  a  mo- 
ment. She  long  continued  to  delight  the  town 
with  her  Viola,  which  she  thus  acted  for  the  first 
time  on  the  nth  of  November,  1785. 

English  audiences  seldom  know  more  of  a  play 


74  MRS.   JORDAN 

than  is  spoken  from  the  stage,  and  the  modern 
collection  of  English  plays  contains  no  more  than 
the  mutilators  of  the  drama  think  proper  to  pre- 
serve of  the  author's  text.  I  perceive  in  the  pas- 
sage above,  that  I  have  indulged  in  a  favourite 
practice  of  throwing  into  a  sentence  some  of  the 
inimitable  language  of  the  poet,  and  usually  in  the 
play  under  consideration.  The  happy  possessors 
of  these  stage  copies  have  never  either  seen  or 
heard  the  expressions  so  introduced,  and  I  shall 
give  a  just  notion  of  the  injury  done  to  our  great 
poet  by  quoting  the  sentences  connected  with  the 
lovely  character  of  Viola.  In  the  third  scene  of 
the  second  act,  the  duke  (Viola  being  present  as 
Cesario)  calls  to  his  musicians  to  play  the  tune  of 
an  "old  and  antique  song,"  which  had  given  more 
relief  to  his  passion  — 

"  Than  the  light  airs  and  recollected  terms 
Of  these  most  brisk  and  giddy-paced  times." 

He  follows  its  repetition  by  this  question  to  the 
youth  at  his  side. 

«'  Duke.  How  dost  thou  like  this  tune  ? 

Vio.     It  gives  a  very  echo  to  the  seat 
Where  love  is  thron'd. 

Duke.  Thou  dost  speak  masterly." 


MRS.   JORDAN  75 

The  player  who  dismissed  this  short  passage,  in 
the  language  of  Othello  — 

"  Like  the  base  Indian,  threw  a  pearl  away 
Richer  than  all  his  tribe." 

And  that,  as  it  should  seem,  merely  to  relieve  the 
gentlemen  in  the  orchestra  from  the  trouble  of 
playing  a  few  bars  of  pathetic  and  appropriate 
music. 

"  Who  would  not  laugh,  if  such  a  man  there  be  ? 
Who  would  not  weep,  if  Atticus  were  he  ?  " 

In  the  original  play,  Feste,  the  jester,  is  brought 
in  to  sing  the  song,  and  his  appearance  draws 
another  beautiful  remark  from  the  duke  to  his 
young  favourite : 

"  Mark  it,  Cesario,  it  is  old  and  plain ; 
The  spinsters  and  the  knitters  in  the  sun, 
And  the  free  maids  that  weave  their  thread  with  bones, 
Do  use  to  chant  it :  it  is  silly  sooth, 
And  dallies  with  the  innocence  of  love, 
Like  the  old  age." 

And  then  follows  the  song  written  by  Shakespeare, 
"Come  Away,  Come  Away,  Death,"  which  wan- 
dered about  the  pendulous  world  a  long  while,  until 
at  last  Kelly  and  Crouch  bound  it  fast  to  the 
"  Pizarro "  of  Sheridan  and  Kotzebue ;  but  the 


76  MRS.  JORDAN 

notes  of  the  musician  echoing  too  faithfully 
the  burthen  of  those  feeble  words  "come  away," 
the  whole  appeared  too  light  for  the  occasion. 

It  is  in  this  scene,  too,  that  the  tender  poet  has 
given  us  the  fine  picture  of  a  hopeless  passion 
pining  in  thought,  and  gracing  a  rooted  grief  with 
the  faint  smile  which  Patience  for  ever  wears 
upon  some  monument  to  the  dead.  Retaining 
this  point  for  Viola,  the  wretched  taste  alluded 
to  cut  away  all  the  essential  preparation  for  such 
a  thing,  and  marred  the  exquisite  address  of  the 
poet.  But  enough. 

In  the  great  variety  of  the  character,  with  the 
duke,  Olivia,  and  the  drunken  assailants,  Mrs. 
Jordan  found  ample  field  for  her  powers ;  and 
she  long  continued  to  delight  the  town  in  Viola, 
which  she  thus  acted  for  the  first  time  at  Drury 
Lane  Theatre  on  the  I  ith  of  November,  1785. 

Viola  is  but  the  comedy  of  Imogen  in  "Cym- 
beline,"  and  the  one  part  seemed  to  be  the  step 
to  the  other,  which  Mrs.  Jordan  indeed  acted  on 
the  2 1  st.  The  truth,  however,  was  that  Mrs. 
Siddons  had  invested  tragedy  so  completely  with 
her  own  requisites,  that  it  was  only  in  the  male 
habit  that  Mrs.  Jordan  seemed  the  true  and  per- 
fect Imogen.  She  had  not  the  natural  dignity  of 


MRS.   JORDAN  77 

the  wife  of  Posthumus.  She  could  not  burst  upon 
the  insolent  lachimo  in  the  terrors  of  offended 
virtue.  She  could  not  wear  the  lightnings  of 
scorn  in  her  countenance.  She  hardly  seemed  out 
of  personal  danger,  whereas  Imogen  could  only 
be  shocked  by  the  impurity  of  suggestion,  and 
knew  her  virtue,  no  less  than  her  rank,  secured 
her  from  a  profane  touch,  let  who  might  be  the 
audacious  libertine  in  her  presence.  It  never  was 
a  favourite  performance,  and  we  were  rejoiced 
when  she  found  another  Romp  in  the  Miss  Hoy- 
den of  the  "Trip  to  Scarborough,"  which  she 
acted  on  the  9th  of  January,  1786. 

There  are  certain  coincidences  in  the  things  of 
this  world  that  force  themselves  on  our  minds,  as 
if  they  were  bound  by  some  relation  of  design. 
On  the  6th  of  December,  1785,  the  only  comic 
actress  who  could  be  named  with  Mrs.  Jordan  died. 
We  allude  to  the  great  Catherine  Clive,  who  then 
expired  at  her  cottage  near  Walpole's  Gothic  play- 
thing called  Strawberry  Hill ;  but  not  till  she  had 
heard  from  the  best  authority  that  the  Nell,  which 
had  established  her  own  reputation  in  the  year 
1731,  would  at  length  find  a  second  representative 
equally  favoured  by  nature  with  herself,  and  who 
resembled  her  also  in  the  brilliant  attraction  which 


7»  MRS.   JORDAN 

she  gave  to  the  male  habit.  The  second  actress, 
like  the  first,  had  at  once  doubled  her  salary  by 
her  enchanting  narvete" ;  and  if  Gibber,  the  great 
author  of  the  "Careless  Husband,"  had  done  this 
piece  of  justice  to  the  original  Nell,  Sheridan,  the 
not  less  great,  though  less  fertile  author  of  the 
"  School  for  Scandal,"  conferred  the  same  benefit 
upon  her  successor.  Clive,  though  she  tried  com- 
position, had  never  mastered  the  elements  of  lan- 
guage, and  she  spelled  most  audaciously.  Jordan, 
though  she  left  the  drama  to  authors  by  profes- 
sion, wrote  an  occasional  address  as  smartly  as 
any  of  them  ;  and  her  letters  were  always  distin- 
guished for  a  pointed  accuracy  and  great  marks  of 
sound  judgment. 

The  Country  Girl  had  begun  to  excite  rather  valu- 
able notice,  when  she  was  met  in  her  career  rather 
unpropitiously  by  a  new  comedy  of  first-rate  merit, 
in  which  she  had  no  part,  all  the  characters  being 
distributed  among  the  old  established  actors  of  the 
Drury  Lane  company.  I  allude  to  Burgoyne's 
"  Heiress,"  first  acted  on  the  I4th  of  January, 
1 786.  When  I  say  unpropitiously,  I  do  not  mean 
to  imply  any  designed  injury  ;  there  was  no  char- 
acter in  the  comedy  that  would  at  all  have  suited 
Mrs.  Jordan's  powers.  Lady  Emily  was,  in  fact, 


MRS.  JORDAN  79 

a  complimentary  sketch  of  Miss  Farren  herself. 
Miss  Alscrip  looked  absolutely  like  another  sketch 
of  Miss  Pope,  though  certain  not  complimentary. 
Miss  Alton  suited  the  beauty  of  Mrs.  Crouch,  and 
Blandish's  sister  parasite,  like  himself,  appeared 
only  to  be  detested.  The  Christmas  pantomime 
of  "  Hurly  Burly "  was  the  running  afterpiece ; 
so  that  she  was  not  frequently  before  the  public 
eye,  for  her  farces  hitherto  were  only  the  "  Romp  " 
and  the  "Virgin  Unmasked."  The  confinement 
of  Mrs.  Siddons  took  place  on  the  28th  of 
December,  so  that  she  did  not  return  to  the 
stage  till  early  in  February.  I  observed  then, 
however,  that  they  did  not  use  Mrs.  Jordan  after 
the  tragedies :  the  great  actress  could  fill  the 
houses  herself.  The  "  Heiress,"  however,  was 
indebted  to  her  for  support ;  the  latter  account 
would  have  been  very  thin  without  her. 

At  length,  King  put  into  rehearsal  the  comedy 
of  "  She  Would  and  She  Would  Not,"  it  is  but  fair 
to  presume,  that  he  might  have  the  pleasure  of 
exhibiting  Mrs.  Jordan  in  the  famous  Hypolita,  a 
character  of  nearly  unequalled  bustle,  and  involved 
in  comic  business  so  complicated  and  ingenious, 
as  it  is  hardly  possible  could  have  occurred  to  any 
wit  who  was  not  by  profession  an  actor,  and  it  is 


8o  MRS.   JORDAN 

but  fair  to  Colley  Gibber  to  add,  to  no  actor  who 
was  not  a  wit.  There  is  wit,  be  it  remembered,  in 
situation,  in  readiness,  in  extrication,  involution ; 
the  making  deliverance  renew  perplexity,  and  per- 
plexity itself  generate  relief.  When  certain  critics 
have  denied  wit  to  this  comedy,  they  seem  to  have 
limited  the  term  to  a  merejeu  de  mot.  But  what- 
ever be  the  predominant  quality  of  Gibber,  it  is 
not  exhausted  by  his  brilliant  heroine;  for  Trap- 
panti  is  fully  equal  to  Hypolita.  "  To  serve  thy- 
self, my  cousin,"  might  as  fairly  have  been  said  to 
King  at  least  as  Buckingham,  on  this  occasion ; 
for  Trappanti  was  the  character  by  nature  best 
fitted  to  his  face  of  brass.  He  played  it  inimitably 
well,  to  be  sure,  and  Parsons  and  Miss  Pope  sus- 
tained Don  Manuel  and  Villetta.  Yet  these  con- 
summate artists  could,  by  a  favourite  critic,  be 
merely  said  to  be  little  inferior  to  the  darling  of 
nature  in  her  twenty-fourth  year.  It  was  first 
acted  on  the  2/th  of  March,  and  continued  a  stock 
play  while  Mrs.  Jordan  remained  in  the  company. 
The  Whigs  of  that  day  had  a  very  strong  per- 
sonal attachment  in  their  politics  :  they  loved  the 
principles  sometimes  for  the  men,  and  the  men 
frequently  for  the  principles.  Burgoyne  being 
attached  to  the  Earl  of  Derby,  they  supported 


Mrs.  Jordan  as 

Kngraved  h  niez/.<itiiit  by  Jones,  after  the  painting  by  Hoppm-r 


MRS.  JORDAN  81 

ardently  the  "  Heiress "  and  Miss  Farren ;  but 
they  were  not  insensible  to  the  claims  of  Mrs. 
Jordan,  and  on  the  night  of  her  benefit,  when  she 
repeated  Hypolita,  and  played  the  "Irish  Widow" 
for  the  first  time,  such  an  audience  was  collected 
as  had  been  very  seldom  seen,  and  the  Whig  club 
made  her  a  very  handsome  present,  as  a  tribute  to 
her  merit. 

She  was  now  certainly  the  great  support  of  the 
theatre ;  she  frequently  acted  in  play  and  farce  on 
the  same  night,  and  for  three  months  together 
hardly  had  more  than  one  day's  interval  in  the 
week.  The  managers  had  tripled  her  original 
salary,  and  gave  her  two  benefits  in  the  season  ;  an 
innovation  first  made  for  Mrs.  Siddons,  and  very 
idly  made.  Comedy  had  now  decidedly  taken  the 
ascendency.  Tragedy  had  been  worn  down  by 
endless  repetition,  and  the  taste  of  King,  the  man- 
ager, did  not  lead  him  to  the  buskin.  There  was 
no  serious  muse  to  invoke  among  us,  and  Mrs. 
Siddons  was  reduced  to  revive  the  feeble  tragedy 
of  "  Percy,"  to  act  Elwina,  when  she  had  nothing 
like  novelty  to  give  us.  She  even  verged  toward 
comedy  in  her  struggle  for  attraction,  and  played 
her  original  trial  part  of  Portia,  with  King  for 
Shylock ;  for  Kemble  seemed  now  an  excrescence 


82  MRS.   JORDAN 

in  the  company.  There  was  in  fact  no  effort 
made  but  by  Mrs.  Jordan,  who,  at  the  end  of  the 
season,  left  them  for  the  country,  to  receive  the 
homage  of  old  friends,  and  the  solicitations  of  new 
ones,  and  take  the  current  when  it  served,  as  it 
was  impelled  by  the  breath  of  praise,  and  left  in 
its  course  a  precious  deposit  of  pure  gold  for  her 
to  gather. 


CHAPTER  V. 

In  the  Recess  Thinks  of  Her  Old  Friends  in  Yorkshire  —  Differ 
ence  of  Nine  Months  —  Odd  Conjuncture  —  Mrs.  Robinson, 
the  Prophetess  —  Return  to  Leeds  of  Mrs.  Jordan  on  the 
Night  of  That  Lady's  Benefit  — Acts  a  Single  Night,  Now 
Dividing  the  House  —  Mrs.  Jordan  at  Edinburgh  —  The 
11  Belle's  Stratagem  "  —  Her  Own  Epilogue,  Its  Point  —  Death 
of  Mrs.  Baddeley  at  This  Juncture  —  Mrs.  Jordan  Succeeds 
Mrs.  Siddons  at  Hull  and  Wakefield — General  Burgoyne 
Translates  "Richard  Coeur  de  Lion"  for  Drury,  in  1786,  and 
Mrs.  Jordan  Accepts  Matilda — Death  of  Princess  Amelia 
Closes  the  Theatres— H.  R.  H.'s  Clock,  by  Tompion  — The 
Royal  Vault  —  A  Friend  of  the  Author's  Passes  the  Night 
in  It  —  His  Feelings  Compared  with  Juliet's  Imagination  — 
Dodsley's  "  Cleone,"  and  Mrs.  Siddons  —  "  Love  for  Love," 
and  the  Miss  Prue  of  Jordan  —  Congreve  and  His  Prefer- 
ments —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Roxalana. 

CHANGE  of  condition  so  striking  was 
calculated  to  try  the  firmest  temper. 
Mrs.  Jordan,  certainly,  was  no  stoic, 
and  she  would  at  any  time  have  disdained  to  affect 
an  indifference  which  she  did  not  feel.  All  that 
was  woman  about  her  anticipated  her  reception  by 
the  manager  and  the  performers  at  Leeds,  which 

83 


84  MRS.  JORDAN 

she  had  so  recently  quitted,  and  the  enjoyment  of 
the  first  salary  of  one  pound,  eleven  shillings,  and 
sixpence  per  week.  She  had  now  to  consider  in 
her  carriage,  on  the  supposition  that  Wilkinson 
might  entreat  her  to  play,  with  what  terms  she 
would  condescend  to  be  satisfied,  now  she  had 
passed  the  assay  in  the  metropolis,  the  metal  being, 
to  a  scruple,  precisely  of  the  same  value  before 
the  journey  to  London. 

The  "whirligig  of  time  brings  his  revenges." 
Mrs.  Robinson,  the  prophetess,  had,  like  other 
false  prophets,  lived  down  her  presumed  wisdom. 
She  had  sneered  at  the  expedition  of  Jordan,  and 
pronounced  her  failure  in  town,  and  speedy  wish 
to  be  again  welcome  at  her  old  quarters.  The 
London  newspapers  had  since  afforded  her  suffi- 
cient mortification.  The  first  salary,  two  benefits, 
and  immense  presents,  lavished  upon  a  hated  rival, 
were  even  at  a  distance  barely  to  be  endured.  This 
unhappy  lady,  "  whose  doom  reserved  her  to  more 
wrath,"  on  the  i6th  of  June,  1786,  was  to  take 
her  benefit  at  Leeds.  She  was  to  act  Horatia  in 
the  "Roman  Father,"  which  the  genius  of  Hen- 
derson had  rendered  popular,  though  it  hastened 
his  death,  and  had  put  up  the  "  Irish  Widow  "  for 
her  farce,  because  Mrs.  Jordan  had  selected  it  for 


MRS.   JORDAN  85 

her  benefit  in  London.  It  announced  as  plainly  as 
words  could  speak  it,  "  Well !  Leeds  also  has  her 
Widow  Brady,  though  the  courtiers  bear  away  the 
honours  of  the  tournament." 

On  this  i6th  of  June,  a  Friday !  Mrs.  Jordan, 
attended  by  her  mother  and  her  sister,  arrived  in 
the  town  of  Leeds,  and,  after  dinner,  made  their 
appearance  in  an  upper  box  at  the  theatre.  It 
was  the  benefit  of  the  very  "  fright "  whom  poor 
Mrs.  Bland  could  neither  bear  to  hear  nor  see ;  and 
what  I  am  afraid  the  old  lady  bore  without  much 
uneasiness,  the  house  was  far  from  being  a  good 
one.  An  absence  of  only  nine  months,  with  an 
audience  so  stationary  as  that  of  Leeds,  was  not 
likely  to  erase  the  features  of  Jordan  from  their 
memory,  and  she  most  certainly  did  not  succeed 
if  she  tried  to  keep  herself  concealed.  But  I  do 
not  imagine  for  a  moment  that  the  child  of  nature 
had  so  much  art  about  her.  I  am  sure  she  had 
an  honest  joy  in  the  buzz  that  turned  every  eye 
up  to  the  balcony  box ;  and,  during  the  farce,  she 
came  down  behind  the  scenes,  and  made  her  com- 
pliments very  gracefully  to  her  former  associates 
in  the  greenroom.  No  people  do  these  things  so 
well  as  players  —  they  are  accustomed  to  assume 
every  variety  of  manner,  and  if,  like  others,  occa- 


86  MRS.  JORDAN 

sionally  insincere,  they  are  never  clumsy  hypo- 
crites. After  having  thus  made  herself  free 
behind  the  curtain,  she  walked  forward  to  the 
very  edge  of  the  wing,  and,  leaning  with  a  fash- 
ionable air  on  her  sister,  observed  the  rival  Widow 
Brady,  and  was  fully  observed  by  the  audience 
herself.  Tate  makes  himself  very  merry  by 
glancing  looks  of  defiance  between  the  two  ladies, 
which  I  dare  say  they  were  discreet  enough  to 
keep  to  themselves.  But  Tate  seems  to  enjoy 
the  mortification  likely  to  be  felt  by  Mrs.  Robin- 
son, and  perhaps  fancied  only  some  contempt  in 
the  great  woman  because  the  humbler  artist  had 
disobliged  him. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  Mrs.  Jordan  to  be 
solicited,  and  she  consented  to  act  a  single  night, 
dividing  the  receipt  with  the  manager  after  a 
deduction  of  fifteen  pounds.  To  this  he  sub- 
mitted, though  he  did  not  expect  any  great  profit 
to  either  party ;  for  he  remembered  that  the 
Leeds  people  had  enjoyed  or  neglected  her  for 
four  summers  in  succession,  and  not  distinguished 
her  parting  benefit  by  any  great  patronage.  But 
the  fashion  had  operated  a  mighty  change  in  her 
favour,  and  the  good  gentry  of  Leeds  now  longed 
most  passionately  to  see  the  actress  of  whom  they 


MRS.  JORDAN  87 

had  so  recently  been  weary.  She  was  announced 
to  act  the  Country  Girl  and  the  Romp  on  the 
2  ist,  and  the  house  overflowed  before  the  play 
began.  The  demand  for  places  was  so  extraordi- 
nary that  seven  rows  of  the  pit  were  laid  into  the 
boxes.  Both  play  and  farce,  it  should  be  ob- 
served, by  her  town  success  in  the  heroines,  had 
been  worn  to  the  felt  by  the  country  hoydens; 
but  she  was  no  longer  her  mere  self,  but  the 
minion  of  rank  and  taste,  and  London.  The  Sid- 
dons  succeeded  her  upon  the  York  circuit  the 
month  following,  and  Mrs.  Jordan  went  to  the 
north  to  fulfil  her  various  engagements.  At 
Edinburgh  she  ventured  to  speak  of  the  only 
rival  she  could  have,  but  it  was  not  with  Pope's 
humility  to  Bolingbroke. 

"  Say,  shall  my  little  bark  attendant  sail, 
Pursue  the  triumph  and  partake  the  gale  ?  " 

There  seems  to  be  a  sly  hint  at  the  despotism 
of  the  turban,  that  bears  no  brother  near  the 
throne.  As  to  Yorkshire,  however,  Mrs.  Siddons 
became  the  absolute  sovereign.  The  rage  with 
which  she  was  followed  had  no  parallel ;  and  if 
the  metropolitical  chair  was  not  devoted  by  a 
salique  law  to  the  male  sex,  and  it  had  been  to 


88  MRS.  JORDAN 

be  filled  by  the  votes  of  the  natives,  it  is  probable 
that  she  might  have  carried  the  election. 

Mrs.  Jordan  took  for  her  benefit  Mrs.  Cowley's 
"Belle's  Stratagem,"  and  after  a  very  charming 
performance  of  Letitia  Hardy,  came  forward  to 
address  her  accomplished  friends  in  the  northern 
Athens.  Later  in  life  she  used  to  hesitate  in  the 
employment  of  her  poetical  talent ;  now,  how- 
ever, in  her  gaiett  du  c&ur,  she  wrote  as  well  as 
spoke  the  following  lines,  which  have  at  least  one 
sparkling  and  original  point,  —  but  she  became  a 
fixed  star. 

"MRS.  JORDAN'S  ADDRESS   TO  THE   AUDIENCE  OF 
EDINBURGH 

"  On  Monday,  Aug.  6,  1786. 

"  Presumption  'tis,  in  learning's  seat, 
For  me  the  Muses  to  entreat : 
Yet,  bold  as  the  attempt  may  be, 
I'll  mount  the  steed  of  poesy ; 
And  as  my  Pegasus  is  small, 
If  stumbling,  I've  not  far  to  fall. 

"  Hear  then,  ye  Nine !  the  boon  I  ask, 
While  (throwing  off  the  comic  mask) 
With  gratitude  I  here  confess 
How  much  you've  heighten'd  my  success. 

"  By  sealing  thus  my  sentence  now, 
You've  heap'd  new  laurels  on  my  brow ; 


MRS.   JORDAN  89 

Nor  is  the  Northern  sprig  less  green 
Than  that  which  in  the  South  was  seen; 
For  though  your  sun  may  colder  be, 
Your  hearts  I've  found  as  warm  for  me. 

11  One  wreath  I  only  gain'd  before, 
But  your  kind  candour  gives  me  more ; 
And,  like  your  union,  both  combine 
To  make  the  garland  brighter  shine. 

"  'Tis  true  such  planets  sparkled  here, 
As  made  me  tremble  to  appear,  — 
A  twinkling  star,  just  come  in  sight, 
Which,  tow'rds  the  Pole,  might  give  no  light ! 

"  Melpomene  has  made  such  work, 
Reigning  despotic  like  the  Turk, 
I  fear'd  Thalia  had  no  chance 
Her  laughing  standard  to  advance : 
But  yet,  her  youngest  ensign,  I 
Took  courage,  was  resolv'd  to  try, 
And  stand  the  hazard  of  the  die. 

"  Since  then  the  vent'rous  game  I've  tried, 
With  Nature  only  for  my  guide  ; 
The  bets,  if  fairly  won,  I'll  take, 
Nor  wish  to  make  it  my  last  stake." 

The  good  people  at  Edinburgh,  we  thus  see, 
permitted  Mrs.  Jordan  to  show  her  own  wit.  But 
those  of  Glasgow,  when  it  came  to  their  turn  to 
welcome  the  great  actress,  presented  her  with  a 


90  MRS.  JORDAN 

gold  medal,  and  an  inscription  not  badly  turned. 
It  was  transmitted  with  a  single  line  of  admira- 
tion and  jealousy. 

"  To  Mrs.  Jordan. 

"  MADAM  :  —  Accept  this  trifle  from  the  Glas- 
gow audience,  who  are  as  great  admirers  of  genius 
as  the  critics  of  Edinburgh." 

On  one  side  of  the  medal  is  the  Glasgow  arms, 
which  are  a  tree,  etc. ;  on  the  other  side  a  feather, 
with  the  following  inscription  :  — 

41  Bays  from  our  tree  you  could  not  gather, 

No  branch  of  it  deserves  that  name ; 
So  take  it  all,  call  it  a  feather, 
And  place  it  in  your  cap  of  fame." 

While  this  charming  woman  was  on  her  way  to 
Edinburgh,  rejoicing  in  her  strength,  the  scene 
closed  on  the  unfortunate  Mrs.  Baddeley,  at  her 
lodgings  there  in  Shakespeare  Square,  on  the  1st 
of  July.  She  had  originally  appeared  in  Ophelia, 
and  Mr.  Garrick,  whose  judgment  in  his  own  art 
will  not  be  questioned,  pronounced  her  delight- 
ful. She  communicated  a  charm  to  the  "ador- 
able Fanny"  in  the  "Clandestine  Marriage,"  and 
Zoffani  painted  her,  with  King  and  her  husband, 


MRS.   JORDAN  91 

in  that  play,  at  the  command  of  George  III. 
They  who  now  look  at  the  words  and  the  music 
of  the  "Jubilee  "  may  exhibit  a  smile  of  incredulity 
to  hear  that  the  ballad  of  "Sweet  Willy  O,"  as 
given  by  her,  was  irresistible,  and  drew  crowds 
to  the  theatre.  But  with  whatever  charms  of 
beauty  or  pathos  she  was  graced,  she  was  self- 
devoted  to  poverty  and  disease.  Extraordinary 
beauty  on  the  stage  commonly  seals  the  fate  of 
the  victim :  the  moral  restraints  there  are  worn 
so  slightly  that  they  drop  at  the  breath  of  adu- 
lation, and  the  public  amusement  becomes  the 
public  prey.  Disappointments  now  awaken  an 
unavailing  regret ;  reflection  must  be  silenced 
by  some  anodyne,  or  distraction  ensues ;  but  the 
temporary  friend  soon  changes  his  character, 
and  consummates  the  misery  he  was  called  in 
to  avert. 

Mrs.  Baddeley  died  in  her  forty-second  year. 
I  have  a  little  anticipated  this  close  when  speak- 
ing of  her  at  York,  on  the  first  appearance  there 
of  Mrs.  Jordan ;  but  in  the  order  of  time,  it  came 
again  before  me,  with  her  own  idea  strongly  im- 
pressed upon  my  memory,  and  I  have  dismissed 
her  with  tender  pity  for  her  fate,  and  gratitude 
for  the  pleasure  derived  in  my  youth  from  her 


92  MRS.   JORDAN 

talents.  Returning  to  her  engagement  at  Drury 
Lane,  Mrs.  Jordan  was  invited  to  try  at  least  to  dis- 
pel some  of  the  gloom  with  which  the  tragic  queen 
had  covered  the  land ;  the  "  laughing  standard " 
might  be  reared  by  her,  but  was  then  certainly 
not  followed.  The  receipts  at  Hull  and  Wakefield 
were  mere  apologies  for  the  inhabitants,  who  gen- 
erally were  too  much  distressed  to  go  abroad  on 
trivial  occasions.  In  this  position  the  gay  actress 
thought  ardently  of  the  capital,  where  no  such 
disparity  in  their  attractions  existed,  and  where 
her  merits  were  appreciated  by  all  ranks. 

Upon  her  arrival,  she  did  not  discover  any  very 
great  preparation  of  the  manager  for  a  brilliant 
season.  General  Burgoyne,  on  the  success  of 
his  "Heiress,"  might  reasonably  continue  his 
dramatic  pursuits ;  and  the  vast  popularity  of  Se- 
daine's  "Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,"  in  Paris,  graced, 
or  rather  informed  by  the  divine  music  of  Gre"try, 
set  both  of  our  theatres  to  work  to  prepare  it  for 
the  English  stage.  Macnally  undertook  it  for  Mr. 
Harris,  and  Burgoyne  for  Sheridan.  The  latter, 
with  great  happiness,  introduced  Richard's  queen 
in  the  situation  of  Blondel,  and  Mrs.  Jordan  ac- 
cepted the  part  of  Matilda,  while  the  majestic 
figure  of  Kemble  was  seen  by  the  audience  taking 


MRS.  JORDAN  93 

his  melancholy  exercise  in  the  prison  of  Leopold, 
Duke  of  Austria,  whose  resentment  of  an  insult 
offered  to  him  by  Richard,  at  the  siege  of  Acre, 
led  him  to  load  his  unhappy  captive  with  irons, 
and  demand  an  enormous  sum  for  his  ransom. 
Perhaps  no  production  ever  had  more  effect  than 
the  Richard  of  Drury  Lane ;  and  so  fascinating 
was  its  ensemble,  that  no  alteration  made  after- 
ward in  the  cast  was  felt  otherwise  than  as  an 
injury,  and  more  voice  or  more  science  in  the 
principals  only  told  the  opera  intruders  that  there 
was  a  truth  and  a  grace  beyond  their  reach,  and 
that  if  you  did  not  touch  the  heart  here,  you  did 
nothing.1 

This  entertainment  was  brought  out  on  the  24th 
of  October,  after  the  "Winter's  Tale,"  and  was 
repeated  every  evening,  till  the  ist  of  November, 
when  the  two  theatres  were  closed,  on  account  of 
the  death  of  the  king's  aunt,  the  Princess  Amelia. 
The  etiquette  of  that  period  kept  the  people  with- 
out amusement,  and  the  actors  without  bread, 
twelve  days ;  an  intolerable  grievance,  and  totally 

1  "  'Tis  not  the  enfeebled  thrill,  or  warbled  shake, 
The  heart  can  strengthen,  or  the  soul  awake  I 
But  where  the  force  of  energy  is  found, 
When  the  sense  rises  on  the  wings  of  sound." 

—  Collins,  p.  96. 


94  MRS.  JORDAN 

uncalled  for.  In  some  cases  of  royal  demise, 
when  a  prince,  the  hope  of  succession,  in  the  flower 
of  his  age,  is  cut  off,  the  public  suffer,  and  the 
willing  respect  paid  to  the  reigning  family  is 
accompanied  by  a  personal  grief,  almost  uniformly 
felt ;  but  even  then,  all  privation  as  to  income 
should  be  prevented :  they  who  are  not  allowed  to 
work  for  themselves  should  be  compensated  by 
the  state.  The  humanity  and  real  wisdom  of  the 
present  reign  has  abridged  the  interval  as  much 
as  possible,  and  marked  the  respect  with  any 
character  rather  than  sufferance. 

The  princess  had  left  a  very  considerable  sum, 
indeed,  with  reversions  of  annuities,  a  splendid 
fortune,  to  Prince  Charles  Hesse.  But  as  she 
mentioned  nothing  of  mourning  to  her  household, 
a  petition,  in  form,  was  presented  to  Lord  Besbor- 
ough.  That  nobleman  thought  the  request  fit  to 
be  indulged,  but  he  was  opposed  in  it.  What 
notion  he  might  entertain  of  the  illustrious  legatee, 
I  cannot  say,  but  he  declared  that  if  the  prince 
refused  to  discharge  the  bills,  he  would  pay  the 
expense  out  of  his  own  pocket.  The  princess  her- 
self displayed  great  affection,  and  very  minute 
attention,  to  all  the  individuals  of  her  establish- 
ment, from  the  ladies  of  her  bedchamber  and  the 


MRS.   JORDAN  95 

two  Ladies  Waldegrave,  to  whom  thousands  were 
given,  down  to  the  menial  servants  of  her  stables 
and  her  kitchen,  to  whom  a  year's  wages  were 
bequeathed.  She  had  forgotten  a  few  old  pen- 
sioners upon  her  bounty,  retired  from  her  service, 
or  who  had  suffered  by  casualty ;  but  there  could 
be  no  difficulty  in  the  legatee's  decision  that  her 
Royal  Highness  intended  torsupport  them  for  their 
lives  rather  than  her  own,  and  bequeathed  as  much 
of  her  mind  along  with  her  money,  as  could  trans- 
migrate to  her  favoured  relation. 

The  royal  family  has  been  remarked  for  a  sin- 
gular attention  to  the  distribution  of  time.  I 
should  like  to  know  the  present  state  of  the 
curious  clock,  the  masterpiece  of  Tompion,  on 
which  he  put  the  price  of  .£600,  when  he  made 
it  for  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  from  whom  it 
came  to  his  sister  Amelia. 

On  Saturday,  November  i  ith,  her  Royal  High- 
ness being  what  was  called  privately  interred  in 
the  royal  vault  of  King  Henry  the  Seventh's 
chapel,  at  Westminster,  the  theatres  opened  again 
on  the  Monday  following. 

Before  we  surfer  the  royal  vault,  however,  to 
close  upon  the  Princess  Amelia,  we  claim  the 
privilege  of  age,  to  tell  an  actual  occurrence  which 


96  MRS.   JORDAN 

happened  to  a  particular  friend.  While  the  work- 
men were  busy  in  preparing  for  the  interment, 
which  was  soon  to  take  place,  a  gentleman,  from 
curiosity,  had  procured  a  taper,  and  gone  down 
into  this  venerable  cemetery.  His  design  was 
to  let  "  contemplation,"  as  Milton  says,  "  have  her 
fill,"  while,  at  intervals,  he  carefully  copied  in 
his  note-book  some  df  the  inscriptions  upon  the 
splendid  coffins  around  him.  Time  had  passed 
away  unheeded  by  the  antiquary,  and  night  had 
been  closing  fast  upon  one  of  the  brief  days  of 
November.  His  eye,  at  length,  was  caught  by 
some  person  moving  at  a  distance  in  the  vault ; 
by  his  taper  he  saw  a  fellow,  in  the  coat  of  a 
soldier,  attempting  to  wrench  away  a  silver  plate 
from  one  of  the  coffins.  He  called  out,  in  an  angry 
tone,  to  the  man,  who  ran  away  in  fear  of  being 
punished  for  the  robbery  he  had  intended.  Our 
friend  thought  it  better,  not  to  pursue  the  wretch, 
but  composing  his  nerves  a  little,  sat  down  to  copy 
the  inscription  which  is  placed  upon  the  coffin  of 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland  ;  while  thus  engaged,  the 
trap-door  of  the  vault  fell  over  his  head,  at  a 
distance,  and,  in  a  short  time,  all  his  sensibility 
was  roused  by  hearing  the  outer  gate  of  the  abbey 
itself  ring  upon  its  hinges,  the  bolts  secured,  and 


MRS.  JORDAN  97 

the  key  turning  in  the  wards  of  the  lock.  His 
first  impression  was  that  he  had  a  long  night 
to  pass  among  the  dead ;  his  wasting  taper  now 
began  to  tell  him  that  he  would  soon,  moreover, 
be  in  total  darkness.  Horror,  in  spite  of  philos- 
ophy, was  creeping  fast  upon  his  aching  sense, 
and  at  length  the  last  glimmer  expired,  and  he 
sat,  motionless,  in  the  gloomy  silence  of  the  grave. 
He  became  incapable  of  thought ;  he  was  breath- 
ing a  heavy  and  noisome  atmosphere,  the  night 
was  chill  and  damp,  but  he  remained  through  it  in 
a  waking  stupor,  a  sort  of  living  death,  as  it 
respected  either  memory  or  reason.  When,  at 
last,  the  vault  was  opened,  and  daylight  visited  the 
aperture,  he  made  his  way  carefully  to  the  steps, 
and  passed  up  them  and  through  the  cathedral, 
inattentive  to  all  the  objects  about  him.  By  a 
kind  of  instinct,  he  took  the  way  to  his  own  house 
in  a  distant  part  of  the  town.  But  the  fancy  had 
been  too  much  excited  for  safety,  and  an  alarming 
fever  succeeded  the  adventure,  from  which  the 
friendly  skill  of  Doctor  Austen,  in  about  six  weeks, 
recovered  him.  He  was  a  very  intimate  friend  of 
Henderson's,  and  told  me  the  story  himself.  It  is 
impossible  not  to  remember  the  almost  parallel 
situation  of  Juliet,  in  the  monument  of  the  Capu- 


98  MRS.  JORDAN 

lets,  and  a  finer  passage  cannot  be  found  in  the 
descriptive  poetry  of  any  nation.  In  order  to  keep 
our  great  poet's  philosophy  safe  from  objection  in 
the  comparison,  it  will  be  remembered  that  the 
perceived  gradations  settle  in  stupor,  and  that 
the  sudden  shock  causes  distraction. 

"  How,  if  when  I'm  laid  into  the  tomb, 
I  wake  before  the  time  that  Romeo 
Comes  to  redeem  me  ?  —  there's  a  fearful  point ! 
Shall  I  not  then  be  stifled  in  the  vault, 
To  whose  foul  mouth  no  healthsome  air  breathes  in  ? 
Or  if  I  live,  is  it  not  very  like, 
The  horrible  conceit  of  death  and  night, 
Together  with  the  terror  of  the  place,  — 
As  in  a  vault,  an  ancient  receptacle, 
Where,  for  these  many  hundred  years,  the  bones 
Of  all  my  buried  ancestors  are  packt ; 
Where  bloody  Tybalt,  yet  but  green  in  earth, 
Lies  festering  in  his  shroud ;  where,  as  they  say, 
At  some  hours  in  the  night  spirits  resort  — 
Alack !  alack  1  shall  I  not  be  distraught, 
Invironed  with  all  these  hideous  fears ; 
And  madly  play  with  my  forefathers'  joints, 
And  pluck  the  mangled  Tybalt  from  his  shroud? 
And  in  this  rage,  with  some  great  kinsman's  bone, 
As  with  a  club,  dash  out  my  desperate  brains  ?  " 

I  know  that,  removed  from  the  scene,  and  fairly 
estimating  the  danger,  the  reason  of  man  can  con- 
fine itself  to  the  merely  disagreeable  in  the  pic- 


MRS.   JORDAN  99 

ture;  but  the  uncertainty  as  to  one  portion  of 
ourselves,  the  ignorance  of  the  nursery,  and  the 
condition  of  our  nerves,  would  keep  the  bravest 
of  us,  I  believe,  from  coveting  such  an  experi- 
ment. 

Among  the  efforts  made  to  keep  up  the  attrac- 
tion of  tragedy  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  was  the 
revival  of  Dodsley's  "  Cleone "  for  Mrs.  Siddons. 
She  could  support  it  only  two  nights,  but  the 
critics  assigned  a  wonderful  reason  indeed  for  its 
failure,  namely,  "that  the  refined  feelings  of  the 
present  times  affect  to  revolt  at  tragedies  where 
insipidity  does  not  prevail."  Surely  it  was  not 
by  their  insipidity  that  Isabella  and  Shore  and 
Calista  and  Belvidera  had  been  rendered  of  late 
so  popular  among  us.  A  better  reason  might  be, 
that  it  was  truly  distressing  to  see  Mrs.  Siddons 
in  the  agonies  of  Cleone  only  a  little  month  be- 
fore her  own  confinement.  If  there  be  anything 
whatever  in  stage  exertion,  Cleone  was  quite 
enough,  one  would  think,  to  destroy  her.  Or 
were  the  very  boards  of  Garrick's  theatre  bound 
to  confirm  his  judgment  of  the  play  in  question, 
which  he  originally  refused  ? 

Mrs.  Jordan  was  more  fortunate  than  her 
great  rival :  the  getting  up  of  "  Love  for  Love " 


ioo  MRS.  JORDAN 

afforded  her,  in  Miss  Prue,  a  character  exactly 
suitable  to  her  style  of  acting,  and  which  kept  its 
hold  upon  the  public  mind.  The  first  scene, 
where  she  enters  with  Tattle  to  Mrs.  Foresight 
and  her  sister,  was  inimitably  natural.  The  scents, 
of  which  the  beau  had  been  so  liberal ;  the  half 
check  upon  the  too  plain  words  which  she  blurted 
out  with  gay  simplicity ;  and  afterward  the  apt 
scholar  and  the  catechism  of  love,  and  the  con- 
firmation of  its  doctrines,  were  rich  comedy  in- 
deed, for  she  had  genius  enough  to  keep  it  from 
offending.  The  courtship  with  Ben,  with  the 
sweet  savours  of  Tattle  all  the  time  in  her  nos- 
trils, afforded  a  striking  contrast ;  the  sullen  aver- 
sion of  her  look,  the  "  I  ain't  deaf,"  with  her 
skilful  utterance  of  the  word,  the  consolatory 
"  I'm  too  big  to  be  whipped,"  her  abuse  of  the 
"  sea  calf,"  and  the  "  tar  barrel,"  and  the  passion 
of  tears,  were  all  truth  itself.  Miss  Prue  has  only 
one  more  scene,  the  first  of  the  fifth  act,  where 
she  exclaims,  with  indignation,  "  What !  must  I  go 
to  bed  to  nurse  again,  and  be  a  child  as  long  as 
she's  an  old  woman  ?  Indeed,  but  I  won't."  The 
last  word,  as  she  contrived  to  utter  it,  and  the 
"  Fiddle  of  a  rod !  I'll  have  a  husband,"  with 
the  hint  as  to  "  Robin  the  butler,"  naturally 


MRS.   JORDAN  101 

enough  produce  the  locking  up  of  the  young 
lady,  whom  the  author  unfortunately  has  left 
under  lock  and  key,  and  neither  involved  in  the 
catastrophe  nor  called  in  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  play. 

Notwithstanding  the  eternal  wit  of  Congreve's 
comedies,  which  is  not  approached  even  by  Sheri- 
dan, it  is  not  true  that  they  have  no  real  character. 
The  present  play  abounds  in  characters  admirably 
discriminated  and  preserved.  Foresight  and  Sir 
Sampson  Legend  are  perfectly  in  nature.  So  is 
Ben,  though  the  lingo  of  the  forecastle  may  vary 
from  time  to  time  ;  but  he  has  the  true  mind  of  a 
sailor,  and  "another  trip"  is  his  only  remedy  for 
disappointment.  A  sailor,  too,  always  uses  the 
terms  of  his  profession,  to  which  he  is  more  heartily 
attached  than  any  other  man,  and,  among  his 
oddities,  is  more  metaphorical  in  his  brief  vocabu- 
lary than  all  the  rhetoricians  or  even  poets  of  the 
community. 

"Love  for  Love"  was  first  acted  on  the  night 
of  opening  of  the  new  theatre  in  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields.  Hamlet  considered  himself  entitled  to  a 
whole  share  among  the  players,  for  a  few  lines 
inserted  into  the  play  before  his  uncle.  Congreve 
received  that  compliment  on  writing  "  Love  for 


102  MRS.   JORDAN 

Love : "  a  whole  share  in  the  concern,  for  a  single 
play  per  year.  It  is  fatal  to  withdraw  from  an 
author  the  stimulus  of  necessity ;  the  author  of 
four  such  comedies  as  Congreve's  could  easily 
persuade  himself  that  he  had  done  enough  for 
fame.  Plunging  a  wit  into  the  pipe-office,  or 
making  him  a  licenser  of  either  coaches  or  wine, 
is  like  marrying  an  actress,  and  taking  her  from 
the  stage ;  the  parties  are  no  better  than  others 
in  the  new  situations ;  to  extend  their  attraction, 
and  therefore  happiness,  they  should  be  left  to 
exert  their  genius  in  its  proper  sphere.  To  reward 
utility,  without  abridging  it,  is  a  problem  of  diffi- 
cult solution.  We  may  be  apt  to  think  such  a 
poet  disgraced  by  his  preferments.  Congreve, 
however,  did  not  wish  to  be  considered  as  an 
author,  yet  it  is  only  as  an  author  that  he  enjoys 
a  name  among  the  illustrious  of  his  country. 

Doctor  Johnson  has  said  of  Congreve,  "that  he 
was  an  original  writer,  who  borrowed  neither  the 
models  of  his  plot,  nor  the  manner  of  his  dia- 
logue." A  mind  so  perspicacious  as  the  doctor's, 
had  he  been  acquainted  with  the  writings  of  Ben 
Jonson,  could  not  have  failed  to  discern  innumer- 
able points  of  similitude  between  them  as  to  the 
personages  of  the  drama,  and  the  manner  of  the 


MRS.   JORDAN  103 

dialogue.     The  great  Lord  Camden  was  fond  of 
displaying  them. 

On  the  1 5th  of  February,  Mrs.  Jordan  assumed 
the  character  of  Roxalana,  in  the  "  Sultan,"  for 
the  first  time.  She  had,  like  Mrs.  Abington, 
skill  enough  to  keep  such  a  trifle  as  this  from 
becoming  contemptible.  On  the  I2th  of  March, 
Mr.  Holcroft  produced  at  Drury  Lane  a  new 
comedy  called  "Seduction,"  but  he  made  no  use 
of  the  talents  of  Mrs.  Jordan.  Like  Mrs.  Siddons 
herself,  she  seems  to  have  been  considered  as 
devoted  to  the  writings  only  of  men  of  genius. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

King's  Management  —  Mrs.  Jordan  in  the  Summer  of  1787  — 
Miss  Farren,  Too,  in  Yorkshire,  Distinguishes  Fawcett,  Since 
a  Truly  Original  Actor  —  Kemble  Alters  the  "  Pilgrim  "  for 
Mrs.  Jordan  —  Her  Juletta  —  The  Character  Describes  Itself 

—  Beautiful    Passages  —  Madness  Exhibited  Frequently  on 
the  Stage  —  "  The  New  Peerage  "  —  Old  Macklin  Remembered 
When  He  Had  Forgotten  Shylock  —  Interesting  Appeal  of 
the  Veteran  —  New  Plays  by  Miss  Lee  and  Captain  Jephson 

—  Smith  Did  Not  Act  Much  with  Mrs.  Jordan  — His  Last 
Benefit  —  Anecdote  of  Him  when  at   Eton  —  His   Intimacy 
with  Garrick  —  His  Comedy  —  Lewis  and  Bensley  Compared 
with    Him  as  Gentlemen  —  Abington  and  Farren  —  Palmer 
Returns  to  His  Viola  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Sir  Harry  Wildair^ 
Theatrical  Politics  —  King's  Abdication. 

JT  must  be  admitted  that  no  theatre  ever 
displayed  so  little  management  as  that 
of  Drury  under  King,  from  the  time  of 
Mrs.  Jordan's  first  appearance.  He  had  received 
two  such  accessions  as  no  other  period  is  ever 
likely  to  produce,  and  he  contented  himself  with 
wearing  them  down.  The  stock  plays  of  a  theatre 
are  excellent  things,  we  know,  but  an  endless 
repetition  of  them  will  thin  the  most  judicious 
audiences.  Nothing  could  be  done  for  Mrs.  Sid- 

104 


MRS.   JORDAN  105 

dons,  as  to  original  composition ;  and  for  Jordan, 
whose  sphere  was  less  poetical  (though  within  the 
limits  of  Viola  and  the  Country  Girl  there  was 
all  the  comic  world  of  delicate  feeling,  poignant 
humour,  and  youthful  simplicity),  nothing  was 
attempted.  I  dare  say  Sheridan,  in  his  visionary 
schemes,  meditated  to  write  for  her ;  and  the 
reverence  at  the  playhouse  for  his  powers  might 
tend  to  discourage  those  who,  humbler  in  their 
pretensions,  were  more  certain  in  their  perform- 
ances. The  politics,  too,  that  really  engrossed  the 
great  wit,  sometimes  were  adverse  to  the  humbler. 
Burgoyne  was  of  the  Whig  party;  and  Holcroft, 
however  occasionally  beyond  their  standard,  was 
at  all  times  in  opposition.  The  theatre  was  never 
really  and  truly  thrown  open  to  such  talent  as 
there  was  among  us.  Sheridan  would  undertake 
everything,  and  do  nothing.  There  was  a  com- 
mittee of  proprietors,  who  only  attended  to  the 
economy  of  the  wardrobe,  and  they  could  not  be 
tempted  by  all  the  eloquence  of  Tom  King  to  ven- 
ture the  smallest  outlay  without  the  consent  of 
Mr.  Sheridan,  who  was  always  too  busy  either  to 
give  it  or  refuse  it.  Thus  it  was  that  Harris,  at 
the  other  house,  beat  them,  with  all  the  cards 
absolutely  in  their  hands. 


106  MRS.   JORDAN 

The  northern  circuit,  during  the  summer  of 
17%7*  again  attracted  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  her  three 
nights  at  Leeds  were  brilliantly  attended ;  she 
acted  Rosalind  with  Roxalana,  Hypolita  with 
Miss  Lucy,  Viola  with  Miss  Hoyden.  His 
Grace,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  her  early  patron 
and  steady  friend,  supported  her  nobly  on  the 
night  of  her  benefit.  She  could  not  stay  longer 
with  Tate  Wilkinson,  but  assured  him  that  her 
successor  from  Drury  Lane,  Miss  Barnes,  was  a 
diamond  of  the  first  water.  That  lady  made  her 
first  impression  in  Juliet  to  the  Romeo  of  Mr. 
Fawcett ;  but  the  expression  of  the  garden  scene, 
"  Hist !  Romeo,  Hist ! "  was  a  piece  of  informa- 
tion as  well  as  a  signal,  for  the  audience  literally 
hissed  the  young  Juliet  to  a  degree  that  precluded 
any  repetition  of  the  offence.  Tate  always  consid- 
ered Mrs.  Jordan  to  have  amused  herself  on  the 
above  occasion,  for  she  was  not  easily  deceived 
as  to  the  requisites  for  her  profession.  Miss 
Barnes,  thus  forced  from  her  Romeo  Fawcett, 
married  out  of  the  house  of  Montague,  and  in 
private  life  remained  inoffensive  and  respectable. 
Leaving  our  sportive  mischief  to  her  harvest  in 
Scotland,  she  was  not  likely  to  hear  with  indiffer- 
ence that  her  comic  competitor,  Miss  Farren,  who 


MRS.   JORDAN  107 

rarely  stirred  from  London,  had  this  summer  Col- 
man's  permission  to  play  for  the  benefit  of  her 
sister  Margaret,  afterward  Mrs.  Knight.  She 
achieved  the  great  distinction  of  three  rows  of 
the  pit  laid  into  the  boxes,  and  for  the  good 
people  of  Yorkshire,  at  York  and  Hull,  acted 
Lady  Paragon,  Lady  Townley,  Lady  Teazle,  Mrs. 
Oakley,  Widow  Belmour,  Charlotte,  in  the  "  Hypo- 
crite," Mrs.  Sullen,  and  Violante ;  attended  in  after- 
pieces by  her  Maria  in  the  "  Citizen,"  Miss  Tittup 
in  "Bon  Ton,"  and  a  character  in  which  she 
always  delighted  me,  Emmeline,  in  Dryden's 
"  Masque  of  King  Arthur." 

The  chain  of  cause  and  effect  has  its  striking 
exemplification  upon  the  real  life  of  the  stage. 
Miss  Farren's  Violante  absolutely  tended  to  direct 
our  excellent  Fawcett  to  the  right  course  for  him 
as  an  actor.  He  was  so  disposed  himself  to  trag- 
edy, that  when  he  could  be  moved  to  personate 
the  fine  gentlemen  in  comedy,  they  were  usually 
a  very  serious  business,  of  more  weight  than 
brightness.  But  he  was,  on  the  night  of  her 
Violante,  induced  to  accept  Colonel  Britton, 
with,  I  believe,  a  preference  for  Don  Felix,  and 
the  great  actress  pronounced  him  a  very  promis- 
ing young  actor.  Thus  his  comic  impression 


io8  MRS.   JORDAN 

gained  strength.  He  played  Peeping  Tom  for 
his  benefit  at  Hull,  so  as  to  astonish  those  who 
had  seen  his  tragedy,  and  at  last  he  became  a 
great,  original,  masterly  comedian,  always  natu- 
ral and  extremely  powerful.  He  has  recently  re- 
tired from  the  stage  into  private  life ;  what  he 
was  as  an  actor  may  be  estimated  with  great 
accuracy  by  seeing  Harley  of  Drury  Lane  Thea- 
tre. It  has  been  said  that  Jones  reminds  us  of 
Lewis,  and  it  was  truly  said :  he  is  a  translation 
into  a  less  brilliant  language,  yet  accurately  ren- 
dered ;  but  as  t6  Fawcett,  Harley  is  not  only  like, 
but  the  same  thing  as  though  the  veteran  had 
been  driven  back  upon  his  early  days  with  all  the 
confidence  and  vigour  of  his  maturity  anticipated. 
This  must  be  understood  of  the  bustle  about  both. 
Whether,  at  a  distant  time,  Harley  may  ever  equal 
his  predecessor  in  characters  of  advanced  life  and 
rustic,  or,  at  any  rate,  not  refined  feeling,  remains 
a  question.  His  buoyancy  is  everything  at  pres- 
ent. The  modern  rage  for  music  demands  that 
our  comic  men  should  have  much  of  the  Italian 
buffo,  and  it  has  introduced  a  sort  of  rigmarole 
extravaganza  of  little  meaning  but  amazing  rapid- 
ity. Mr.  Fawcett' s  second  wife  was  an  expert 
musician,  and  she  disciplined  him  admirably  on 


MRS.   JORDAN  109 

these   occasions,   though   his   own   father   was   a 
singer  and  a  pupil  of  Tom  Arne's. 

The  winter  season  of  1787-88  had  the  advan- 
tage of  Kemble's  studies,  and  they  led  him  to  a 
character  that  seemed  expressly  contrived  for 
Mrs.  Jordan  —  that  of  Juletta  in  the  "  Pilgrim  " 
of  Fletcher.  That  the  fable  is  somewhat  fantas- 
tic will  be  readily  admitted,  but  at  the  same  time 
it  must  be  confessed  that  the  incidents  are  singu- 
larly entertaining.  The  author  makes  Juletta  de- 
lineate herself,  and  the  passage  will  show  the  great 
variety  with  which  he  had  decorated  his  favourite 
character,  and  the  scope  it  afforded  to  the  infinite 
humour  of  Mrs.  Jordan. 

"  Jul.  I  am  a  little  footboy, 

That  walk  o'  nights,  and  fright  old  gentlemen ; 
Make  'em  lose  hats  and  cloaks.   . 

Alph.  And  horses  too. 

Jul.     Sometimes   I   do,  sir,  teach  'em  the  way  through 

ditches, 

And  how  to  break  their  worships'  shins  and  noses, 
Against  old  broken  stiles  and  stumps. 

Alph.  A  fine  art! 

I  feel  it  in  my  bones  yet. 

Jul.  I'm  a  drum,  sir  — 

A  drum  at  midnight ;  ran,  tan,  tan,  tan,  tan,  sir ! 
Do  you  take  me  for  Juletta  ?  —  I'm  a  page,  sir, 
That  brought  a  letter  from  the  Duke  of  Medina, 


no  MRS.   JORDAN 

To  have  one  Signor  Alphonso  (just  such  another 
As  your  old  worship)  worm'd  for  running  mad,  sir ; 
Alas  !  you  are  mistaken. 

Alph.  Thou'rt  the  devil. 

And  so  thou  hast  us'd  me. 

/«/.  I  am  anything. 

An  old  woman,  that  tells  fortunes  —  frights  good  people, 
And  sends  them  to  Segovia,  for  their  [souls'  sake]. 
I  am  strange  airs,  and  excellent  sweet  voices ; 
I'm  anything  to  do  my  mistress  good,  believe  me. 
She  now  recover'd,  and  her  wishes  crown'd, 
I  am  Juletta  again.     Pray,  sir,  forgive  me." 

Perhaps  this  will  be  thought  the  finest  vivd 
voce  delineation  of  a  character  existing.  Ben 
Jonson  has  a  similar  exposition  in  his  "Brain- 
worm  ; "  but  I  always  thought  the  boast  of 
"Every  Man  in  His  Humour"  heavy  and  barely 
credible.  Juletta  is  as  light  as  Ariel,  and  as 
sportive  as  Puck. 

The  soul  of  the  poet  Fletcher  was  exquisitely 
tempered,  and  he  has  even  a  woman's  fondness 
for  the  tender  virtues.  Among  them  he  touches 
fidelity  with  a  peculiar  fondness.  The  reader 
should  refer  to  the  passage  where  Bellario  is  ques- 
tioned as  to  Arethusa,  in  "Philaster."  There  is 
a  beautiful  counterpart  in  this  character  of  Juletta, 
which,  equally  firm  as  to  the  main  point  of  trust, 
breaks  away  into  a  strain  of  comic  sarcasm,  that 


MRS.  JORDAN  m 

lost   nothing  in   coming    through   the   melodious 
organ  of  Mrs.  Jordan. 

"Jul.     If  I  did  know,  and  her  trust  lay  upon  me, 
Not  all  your  angers,  nor  your  flatteries, 
Should  make  me  speak ;  but  having  no  more  interest 
Than  I  may  well  deliver  to  the  air, 
I'll  tell  you  what  I  know,  and  tell  it  liberally; 
I  think  she's  gone,  because  we  cannot  find  her; 
I  think  she's  weary  of  your  tyranny, 
And  therefore  gone ;  maybe  she  is  in  love ; 
Maybe  in  love  where  you  show  no  great  liking : 
And  therefore  gone." 

These  old  comedies,  it  is  true,  needed  a  good 
deal  of  weeding,  but  Kemble,  after  Vanbrugh,  had 
left  the  "  Pilgrim  "  pure  enough  in  all  conscience. 
The  charm  of  their  easy  verse,  so  near  the  ca- 
dence of  good  conversation,  so  pointed,  and  yet  so 
musical,  will  always  plead  for  their  revival,  as 
much  for  the  language  as  the  invention  and  char- 
acter with  which  they  abound.  A  fashion  ob- 
tained in  the  time  of  Fletcher,  of  which  humanity 
then  did  not  feel  ashamed  —  I  allude  to  the  prac- 
tice of  exposing  what  should  be  the  sacred  mys- 
teries of  madness  to  the  derision  of  a  public 
audience.  The  inside  of  a  bedlam,  in  a  variety  of 
tragedies  and  comedies,  was  emptied  out  upon  the 
stage,  and,  I  fear,  afforded  a  thoughtless  enjoy- 


H2  MRS.   JORDAN 

ment,  unmixed  with  the  just  horror  which  belongs 
to  such  a  profanation.  Creatures  of  all  conditions, 
in  all  the  fantastic  disarray  of  their  disturbed 
senses,  succeeded  each  other  upon  the  stage,  or 
entered  into  contests  of  delusion  and  prejudice 
with  each  other  in  a  crowd  — 

"  Whilst  they,  so  perfect  is  their  misery, 
Not  once  perceive  their  foul  disfigurement, 
But  boast  themselves  more  comely  than  before." 

—  Comus. 

The  "  Pilgrim  "  has  some  scenes  of  this  kind ; 
but  the  most  powerful  are  those  which,  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  their  tendency,  the  ingenious  cru- 
elty of  her  brothers  assembles  before  the  Duch- 
ess of  Malfy,  the  great  masterwork  of  Webster, 
a  tragic  writer  equal  to  everything  but  Shakes- 
peare. 

Again  we  had  a  new  comedy  from  the  pen  of 
Harriet  Lee,  which  appeared  on  the  loth  of  No- 
vember, and  Mrs.  Jordan  had  no  part  assigned  to 
her ;  it  was  called  "  The  New  Peerage ;  or,  Our 
Eyes  May  Deceive  Us."  King  and  Miss  Farren 
had  all  that  was  striking  in  it.  Mrs.  Crouch,  hav- 
ing spoke  herself  into  favour  in  the  "  Heiress," 
had  another  miss  allotted  her,  called  Sophia  Har- 
ley.  The  "New  Peerage"  has  long  since  disap- 


MRS.   JORDAN  113 

peared,  and,  perhaps,  does  not  merit  to  take  rank 
among  the  established  nobility  of  the  drama. 

The  great  excellence  of  the  veteran,  Macklin, 
drew  considerable  audiences  whenever  he  appeared 
at  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  and  he  had  been  an- 
nounced to  perform  his  own  Shylock  on  the  roth 
of  January,  1788,  at  the  extraordinary  age  of 
eighty-nine.  I  went  there  to  compare  his  per- 
formance with  that  of  my  friend  Henderson, 
whose  loss  I  even  still  regret,  and,  with  some  anx- 
iety and  much  veneration,  secured  a  station  in  the 
pit,  which  none  but  the  young  should  scuffle 
about,  for  it  was  much  contested.  You  just  saw 
the  foot  of  the  actor,  and  thus  had  his  full  expres- 
sion and  whole  figure  bearing  upon  your  eye  ;  and 
I  most  seriously  assure  the  modish  frequenter  of 
the  side-boxes  or  stage-box,  that  if  he  never  occu- 
pied that  station  he  never  saw  what  was  delicate 
and  exact  and  discriminative,  and  I  was  going  to 
add  sublime,  in  acting.  There,  and  thus  anx- 
iously, Garrick  had  been  watched  even  to  agony ; 
and  in  Shylock,  at  least,  and  Sir  Pertinax,  Mack- 
lin was  a  Garrick.  It  was  a  little  before  my  per- 
sonal introduction  to  Macklin,  but  I  would  not,  at 
that  time,  miss  a  repetition  of  his  triumph  in  the 
Jew.  Who  would  not  decorate  the  chambers  of 


114  MRS.   JORDAN 

memory  with  portraits  thus  painted  by  the  great 
masters,  in  living  colours  and  all  the  truth  of 
nature  ? 

Macklin  got  through  the  first  act  with  spirit  and 
vigour,  and,  except  to  a  very  verbal  critic,  without 
material  imperfection.  In  the  second  he  became 
confused,  and  sensible  of  his  confusion.  With  his 
usual  manliness,  and  waiting  for  no  admonition 
from  others,  he  advanced  to  the  front  of  the 
stage,  and  with  a  solemnity  in  his  manner  that 
became  extremely  touching,  thus  addressed  his 
audience : 

"  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  Within  these  very 
few  hours,  I  have  been  seized  with  a  terror  of  mind 
I  never  in  my  life  felt  before ;  it  has  totally  des- 
troyed my  corporeal  as  well  as  mental  faculties. 
I  must,  therefore,  request  your  patience  this  night 
—  a  request  which  an  old  man  of  eighty-nine  years 
of  age  may  hope  is  not  unreasonable.  Should  it 
be  granted,  unless  my  health  shall  be  entirely 
reestablished,  you  may  depend  upon  it,  this  will  be 
the  last  night  of  my  ever  appearing  before  you  in 
so  ridiculous  a  situation." 

Thus  dignified,  even  in  his  wreck,  was  that 
great  man,  whom  Pope  had  immortalised  by  a 
compliment,  and  whose  humanity  Lord  Mansfield 


MRS.  JORDAN  115 

had  pronounced  to  be  at  least  equal  to  his  skill  as 
an  actor.  He  recovered  with  the  generous  ap- 
plause of  the  audience,  and  got  through  the  play 
by  great  attention  from  the  prompter  and  his 
assistant.  It  was  now  said  that  Leveredge  had 
sung  upon  the  stage  at  the  still  greater  age  of 
ninety-six,  an  effort,  though  unusual,  not  exciting 
much  surprise.  Music  is  of  easy  recollection : 
tunes  may  be  said  to  haunt  the  memory,  and  the 
first  bar  leads  through  the  whole  melody  with 
great  accuracy ;  but  a  thousand  lines  of  pointed 
verse,  intersected  with  cues,  and  accompanied  with 
stage  business,  with  passions  to  be  assumed,  and 
interest  to  be  enforced,  may,  at  times,  startle 
the  coolest  brain,  and  agitate  the  most  practised 
speaker. 

Among  reasonable  expectations  it  might  have 
been  presumed  that  a  new  tragedy,  by  Jephson, 
would  have  aided,  or  been  aided  by,  the  great 
tragic  strength  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre ;  but  it 
was  cut  short  'in  the  commencement  of  its  career 
by  Kemble's  illness,  and,  the  next  season,  was 
never  heard  of  until  the  nth  of  December,  when 
Wroughton  supported  the  character  which  Palmer 
had  given  up  for  his  royalty  management.  The 
injury  done  to  this  beautiful  effort,  by  interrup- 


Il6  MRS.  JORDAN 

tions  of  many  kinds,  required  a  philosophy  at  least 
on  a  par  with  the  author's  poetry. 

Although  Smith  had  the  full  merit  of  bringing 
Mrs.  Jordan  to  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  and  enjoyed 
her  popularity  for  a  variety  of  reasons,  he  yet,  as 
an  actor,  was  not  in  the  least  strengthened  by  her 
talents  —  they  did  not  act  in  the  same  pieces. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Smith's  retirement 
was  hastened  by  the  predominance  of  Mrs.  Sid- 
dons  and  her  brother.  The  usage  of  the  theatre 
did  not  allow  such  an  actor  as  Smith  to  be  divested 
of  the  business  he  had  been  engaged  to  sustain ; 
and  Mr.  Kemble  had  at  least  calmness  enough  not 
to  express  any  impatience  for  the  tragic  sceptre, 
which  he  was  sure  to  receive  at  no  distant  day. 

On  the  loth  of  March,  1788,  Smith  took  his 
last  benefit,  and  himself  acted  Macbeth  to  the 
Lady  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  Kemble  performing  Mac- 
duff,  and  despatching  his  great  rival  from  the 
mimic  world.  He  spoke  an  address,  in  which  he 
announced  his  retirement  to  a  country  life  and 
the  sports  of  the  field  and  the  turf,  to  which  he 
had  through  life  been  always  strongly  addicted. 
The  habit  of  acting  in  our  great  towns  during  the 
race  weeks  has  given  to  our  actors,  pretty  gen- 
erally, a  love  for  the  course,  and  many  of  them 


MRS.   JORDAN  117 

pique  themselves  upon  never  missing  such  things. 
Kemble  is  the  only  great  actor  who  never  talked 
to  me  of  a  "gallop  after  the  hounds,"  and  it  was 
not  till  late  in  life  that  he  became  a  horseman. 

There  was  "further  compliment  of  leave-tak- 
ing" between  Smith  and  the  public,  on  the  loth 
of  June,  when  he  acted  the  last  time  for  the  prop- 
erty. He  had  been  five  and  thirty  years  before 
the  town,  and  had  kept  up  a  friendly  intercourse 
with  Garrick,  whom  he  sometimes  irritated,  always 
reverenced,  and  constantly  studied.  They  both 
loved  money,  and  disputed,  even  to  separation, 
about  pounds  or  guineas,  in  the  weekly  salary. 
Smith  had  been  educated  at  college,1  and  lived  in 
the  best  society ;  his  correspondence  with  his  great 
master  is  frequently  graced  by  quotations  from 
Ovid  and  Virgil,  and  Catullus  and  Mrs.  Hartley 
concur  in  reminding  the  manager  of  his  own 

1  While  Smith  was  at  Eton,  Doctor  Sumner  came  suddenly 
upon  the  scholars  at  their  play,  and  the  troop  took  flight,  calling 
out,  "  Away  I  here's  Sumner."  Smith  not  choosing  to  run, 
was  thus  addressed  by  the  doctor :  "  Is  that  a  proper  mode  of 
mentioning  me  ?  '  Here's  Sumner  coming  1 '  Surely,  it  became 
you  to  say  Doctor  Sumner."  Smith,  very  submissively,  dis- 
claimed the  remotest  notion  of  disrespect,  and  added,  as  a 
scholar,  the  classical  vindication  of  the  abruptness  complained 
of.  "  When  the  Romans  saw  Caesar  approaching,  they  did  not 
say,  Here  comes  Imperator  Caesar,  but,  Caesar  comes." 


n8  MRS.   JORDAN 

attachment  to  Mrs.  Woffington.  He  would  often 
beg  from  Mr.  Garrick  an  hour's  attention  to  his 
rehearsals,  but  I  never  could  see  that  he  had  prof- 
ited by  the  teacher,  for  his  tragedy  was  uniformly 
hard  and  unvaried,  whereas  the  very  vital  prin- 
ciple of  Roscius  was  point,  and  he  could  no  more 
endure  a  character  set  to  one  tune,  than  he  could 
hear  the  slightest  inattention  to  the  stage  busi- 
ness. Smith's  heroes  in  tragedy  all,  more  or  less, 
reminded  you  of  Bajazet  —  it  was  the  tyrant's 
vein  that  he  breathed ;  he  looked  upon  tragedy 
to  be  something  abstract,  to  which  all  character 
has  to  bend ;  so  that  he  had  but  one  manner  for 
Richard  and  Hamlet.  But  his  nerve  and  gentle- 
manly bearing  carried  him  through  a  world  of 
emotion  without  exciting  a  tear,  and  you  were 
some  way.  satisfied,  though  "not  much  moved." 
In  comedy  his  manliness  was  the  chief  feature, 
yet  it  was  combined  with  pleasantry  so  perfectly 
well-bred  that  I  am  unable  to  name  any  other 
actors  who  have  approached  him.  If  they  had 
the  pleasantry,  they  wanted  the  manliness  ;  where 
there  was  man  enough  about  them,  either  the 
pleasantry  was  wanting,  or  the  manliness  checked 
the  pleasantry.  Lewis  had  the  pleasantry,  but 
carried  to  riot,  and  the  manliness,  though  swelling 


MRS.  JORDAN  119 

up  to  the  braggart.  Bensley  and  Aikin  were  both 
manly,  but  for  pleasantry,  alas !  it  became  satire 
in  passing  their  lips.  I  never  laughed  with  Bens- 
ley  but  once,  and  then  he  represented  Malvolio,  in 
which  I  thought  him  perfection.  Bensley  had 
been  a  soldier,  yet  his  stage  walk  eternally  re- 
minded you  of  the  "  one,  two,  three,  hop,"  of  the 
dancing-master ;  this  scientific  progress  of  legs,  in 
yellow  stockings,  most  villainously  cross-gartered, 
with  a  horrible  laugh  of  ugly  conceit  to  top  the 
whole,  rendered  him  Shakespeare's  Malvolio  at  all 
points. 

Mrs.  Jordan  had  now  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
at  Covent  Garden  the  great  actress  of  her  early 
days  in  Ireland,  to  whom  her  mother  had  acted  the 
first  Constantia  in  the  "  Chances,"  and  whom  the 
best  judges  had  pronounced  to  be  the  greatest 
mistress  of  her  art.  But  the  only  fine  lady  of 
comedy  was  now  grown  lusty,  and  her  humour, 
like  the  gaiety  of  the  mature  at  a  festival,  was 
endured,  rather  than  enjoyed,  because  there  had 
been  a  day  when  it  was  more  suited  to  the  person. 
The  Romp  saw,  however,  what  the  style  had 
been  in  its  meridian,  and  that  it  by  no  means 
suited  her  own  powers ;  nature  had  done  at  least 
as  much  for  one  as  art  had  done  for  the  other ; 


120  MRS.   JORDAN 

and  who,  beside,  was  ever  great  by  imitation  ? 
Yet  she  thought  she  saw  enough,  if  she  herself 
should  ever  assume  the  fashionable  fair,  to  keep 
her  quite  clear  of  the  mincing  manner  of  Miss 
Farren,  who,  in  Lady  Teazle,  was  absolutely  made 
to  laugh  at  her  own  mode  of  utterance ;  in  other 
words,  exemplify  the  ridicule  by  the  natural  manner 
as  much  as  the  mimicry. 

The  business  of  the  Royalty  Theatre  having 
been  settled  by  the  interest  of  the  winter  paten- 
tees, Mrs.  Jordan  was  benefited  in  her  Viola  by 
the  return  of  the  penitent  Palmer  to  Drury  and 
Sir  Toby.  I  have,  in  "The  Life  of  Kemble," 
told  the  tale  of  his  "insidious  humility,"  and, 
therefore,  will  not  repeat  it  here,  but  barely 
state  that,  on  the  meeting  between  Sheridan  and 
himself,  Palmer  addressed  him  so  exactly  in  the 
style  of  Joseph  Surface,  that  the  witty  author 
stopped  him  by  exclaiming,  "  Why,  Jack,  you  for- 
get I  wrote  it."  Satisfied  with  his  joke,  he  added 
three  pounds  per  week  to  the  salary  of  the  wan- 
derer. As  far  as  the  public  is  concerned,  patent 
rights  are  justifiable,  when,  by  the  engagement  of 
responsible  persons,  they  produce  a  perfect  and 
becoming  amusement  for  the  world  about  them. 
But  whenever  new  worlds  start  up  at  a  great  dis- 


MRS.   JORDAN  12 1 

tance,  they  have  an  equal  right  to  be  amused,  and 
within  their  own  neighbourhoods.  The  popula- 
tion should  be  the  measure,  and  not  the  patentees. 
It  was  on  Friday,  the  2d  of  May,  1788,  that 
Mrs.  Jordan,  for  her  own  benefit,  challenged  the 
fame  of  Mrs.  Woffington,  in  the  unequalled  gaiety 
of  Farquhar's  Sir  Harry  Wildair.  When  Gibber 
wrote  his  sprightly  comedy  of  "She  Would  and 
She  Would  Not,"  in  the  year  1703,  he  made  his 
Hypolita  assume  the  male  disguise,  and  be  as  like 
as  he  could  make  her  to  Sir  Harry  Wildair,  in  the 
"  Constant  Couple,"  which  had  appeared  at  the 
same  theatre,  Drury  Lane,  three  years  before. 
The  character  of  Sir  Harry  has  the  advantage  in 
point  of  dialogue.  The  talent  of  Farquhar  for 
comedy  was  astonishing.  The  timidity  which 
forbade  him  to  act  himself  never  moderated  in  the 
least  his  conceptions  for  others,  and  he  placed  his 
actors,  at  every  step  they  took,  upon  the  very 
verge  of  danger.  Wilks  was  the  original  per- 
former of  this  jubilee  of  youthful  fashion ;  and 
it  requires  the  very  highest  captivations  to  render 
it  bearable.  When  Woffington  took  it  up,  she  did 
what  she  was  not  aware  of,  namely,  that  the  audi- 
ence permitted  the  actress  to  purify  the  character, 
and  enjoyed  the  language  from  a  woman,  which 


122  MRS.   JORDAN 

might  have  disgusted  from  a  man  speaking  before 
women  —  as  I  have  heard  spoiled  children  com- 
mended for  what  would,  a  few  years  after,  shut 
them  out  of  the  room  if  they  ventured  so  far. 
No,  Mrs.  Woffington,  in  spite  of  Quin's  joke,  upon 
your  supposing  that  "  half  the  house  took  you  for 
a  man,"  I  am  convinced  that  no  creature  there 
supposed  it  for  a  moment :  it  was  the  travesty, 
seen  throughout,  that  really  constituted  the  charm 
of  your  performance,  and  rendered  it  not  only  gay, 
but  innocent.  And  thus  it  was  with  Mrs.  Jordan, 
who,  however  beautiful  in  her  figure,  stood  con- 
fessed a  perfect  and  decided  woman,  and  courted, 
and  intrigued,  and  quarrelled,  and  cudgelled  in 
whimsical  imitation  of  the  ruder  man. 

I  remember  her  well  on  this  night  of  laughter, 
charmingly  dressed,  and  provokingly  at  ease  in 
situations  which,  unaided  by  wine,  few  men  view 
without  embarrassment.  Accordingly,  no  doubt, 
either  Wilks  or  Lewis  was  the  more  perfect  repre- 
sentative of  Wildair ;  but  neither  of  them  afforded 
such  delight  as  the  two  female  rakes,  who  were 
loved  for  their  own  sakes,  while  laughed  at  for 
ours.  I  need  only  notice  the  shouts  of  applause 
that  followed  Mrs.  Jordan's  dilemma,  and  exit  in 
the  fifth  act. 


MRS.  JORDAN  123 

"  Here  I  am  brought  to  a  very  pretty  dilemma.  I  must 
commit  murder,  or  commit  matrimony;  which  is  the  best 
now  ?  a  license  from  Doctors  Commons,  or  a  sentence  from 
the  Old  Bailey?  —  If  I  kill  my  man,  the  law  hangs  me;  if 
I  marry  my  woman,  I  shall  hang  myself — but,  damn  it, 
cowards  dare  fight;  I'll  marry,  that's  the  most  daring 
action  of  the  two.  \Exit" 

There  was  something  in  Mrs.  Jordan  which  was 
fairly  unaccountable.  She  was  nervous  in  the 
theatre,  and  even  at  the  wing  before  she  came  on ; 
once  before  the  audience,  she  could  do  anything. 
As  the  leading  male  of  the  comedy,  at  its  close 
she  resolved  to  do  all  the  honours.  She  stepped 
before  the  curtain  to  the  lamps,  and  gave  out 
the  play  for  the  next  night ;  she  then  announced, 
with  great  impression,  the  play  of  "All  for 
Love,"  for  the  Monday,  and  with  deliberate 
respect  pronounced  the  words,  "being  for 
the  benefit  of  Mistress  Siddons."  It  took  the 
audience  by  surprise;  but  they  felt  the  kind- 
ness soon,  and  applauded  it,  when,  without  mak- 
ing Peggy's  mistake  in  her  male  attire,  she 
bowed  profoundly,  and  hurried  up  to  her  dress- 
ing-room, to  prepare  for  Matilda,  in  "Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion." 

Before  we  are  called  away  from  the  "  Constant 
Couple,"  it  may  be  proper  to  notice  the  remark  of 


124  MRS.   JORDAN 

Steele  in  the  Tatler  upon  its  dialogue.  It  occurs 
in  No.  19  of  those  papers. 

"  This  performance  is  the  greatest  instance  we 
can  have  of  the  irresistible  force  of  proper  action. 
The  dialogue  in  itself  has  something  too  low  to 
bear  a  criticism  upon  it ;  but  Mr.  Wilks  enters  into 
the  part  with  so  much  skill,  that  the  gallantry,  the 
youth,  and  gaiety  of  a  young  man  of  plentiful  for- 
tune  is  looked  upon  with  as  much  indulgence  on 
the  stage  as  in  real  life,  without  any  of  those  in- 
termixtures of  wit  and  humour  which  usually  pre- 
possess us  in  favour  of  such  characters  in  other 
plays." 

The  above  passage  is  a  proof  how  inconsider- 
ately men  of  genius  sometimes  write,  to  serve  a 
particular  purpose.  Here  Wilks  was  to  carry  the 
whole  play  upon  his  back,  and  the  creator  of  the 
character  he  acted  was  to  be  a  nullity  in  his  own 
work.  "  The  dialogue  in  itself  has  something  too 
low  to  bear  criticism."  It  is  the  language,  how- 
ever, the  only  language,  by  which  Wilks  was  to 
convey  the  gallantry,  and  gaiety,  which  we  will  ad- 
mit sat  admirably  well  upon  that  graceful  man. 
The  dialogue  low,  indeed  !  All  the  characters  are 
not  Bevils,  but  they  have  conversation  language 
suited  to  their  qualities  and  purposes.  "Bear 


MRS.  JORDAN  125 

criticism  !  "  Did  Steele  read  what  he  has  written  ? 
What  did  his  friend  Addison  think  of  the  slip-slop 
which  follows  ?  "  The  gallantry,  the  youth,  and 
gaiety  of  a  young  man,"  and  these  qualities  "is 
looked  upon,"  and  "  Mr.  Wilks  enters  into  the 
part."  What  part  ?  and  how  far  are  we  to  try  back 
for  the  antecedent  ?  But  all  this  is  carelessness, 
it  will  be  said.  The  critic  who  is  unjust  in  his 
censures  should  at  least  be  correct  in  his  language. 
"  Without  intermixtures  of  wit  and  humour  "  the 
play  may  be ;  for  these  are  not  infusions  into  the 
composition,  but  the  characteristics  of  it.  To 
quote  instances  would  be  to  transcribe  whole 
scenes. 

I  am  unacquainted  with  a  writer  of  domestic 
comedy  entitled  to  higher  praise  than  Farquhar 
may  claim  from  his  countrymen,  and  even  now, 
do  but  act  his  plays  with  the  respectable  talent 
that  still  may  be  collected  among  us,  and  Congreve 
himself,  in  spite  of  his  elaborate  wit,  will  have  no 
chance  with  him. 

Mrs.  Jordan  did  not,  in  the  mode  of  great 
actresses,  desert  the  theatre  the  moment  she  had 
secured  her  benefit ;  she  acted  with  them  in  both 
play  and  farce,  on  the  I3th  of  June,  the  last  night 
of  the  season. 


126  MRS.  JORDAN 

The  king,  accompanied  by  his  family,  this  sum- 
mer paid  a  visit  to  Cheltenham.  He  very  fre- 
quently rode  out  in  the  wet,  and  probably  here 
originated  that  tendency  to  fever  that  was  soon 
after  to  alarm  the  nation,  and  originate  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  regency,  so  furiously  contested,  and 
so  triumphantly  carried  by  Mr.  Pitt. 

Mrs.  Jordan  arrived  there  during  the  stay  of 
their  Majesties,  and  was  hardly  less  welcome  to 
her  host  of  admirers  at  Cheltenham.  In  the  re- 
cess I  shall  examine  how  our  great  comedian  was 
likely  to  be  affected  by  the  schism  in  Drury  Lane 
Theatre.  As  far  as  she  could  feel  interested  about 
the  management,  it  may  be  supposed  that  her 
wishes  pointed  to  a  comic  rather  than  a  serious 
management  of  the  concern ;  but  King,  from  long 
habit,  was  more  attached  to  Miss  Farren  than 
herself ;  and,  indeed,  her  performance  of  the  fine 
lady,  however  inferior,  critically  speaking,  to  what 
Mrs.  Abington  had  been,  was  both  nearer  to  the 
fashionable  woman  of  her  day,  and  greatly  superior 
to  anything  that  could  be  found  in  either  town  or 
country.  Lord  Derby  and  the  party,  too,  sup- 
ported her  with  no  barren  admiration,  and  she 
might,  therefore,  be  an  object  of  particular  favour 
with  the  manager,  from  interest  as  well  as  habit, 


MRS.   JORDAN  127 

perhaps  also  preference.  The  style  of  King  was 
always  hard,  precise,  and  pointed;  he  converted 
everything  into  epigram,  and  certainly  never  him- 
self yielded  to  luxuriant  fancy,  in  the  manner  of 
Jordan,  one  of  whose  laughs  would  disconcert  the 
most  laboured  efforts  of  sententious  delivery. 
The  old  school,  as  they  called  themselves,  kept 
together  by  choice  ;  for  Bannister,  in  fact,  as  little 
resembled  them  as  Jordan,  and  she  would  have 
been  better  with  the  comic  actors,  of  whom  Mun- 
den  was  the  head,  than  any  other,  as  sharing  with 
her  in  the  full  flow  of  voluptuous  humour. 

Mrs.  Jordan  would  be  likely  now  to  know  some 
of  the  secrets  of  the  prison  house.  She  saw  that 
the  retirement  of  Smith  strengthened  Mr.  Kemble 
so  materially  that  the  concern  mainly  depended 
upon  him  ;  and  the  patentees  might  secretly  smile 
at  the  petulance  of  King,  who  attached  too  much 
importance  to  his  ministry,  and  might  have  been 
satisfied  with  the  mere  stage-management,  which, 
in  truth,  was  the  extent  of  his  competence.  They 
bore  with  his  threats  of  abdication  through  the 
summer,  sounding  Mr.  Kemble  as  to  the  power 
that  he  would  expect  in  the  situation,  if  he  ac- 
cepted it,  and  the  recess  passed  away  in  talking 
idly,  and  doing  nothing  for  the  ensuing  season. 


128  MRS.   JORDAN 

At  length  King,  seeing  that  the  die  was  cast, 
chose  to  desert  the  standard  and  appeal  to  the 
public ;  a  very  unwise  measure,  and  intended  to 
do  mischief.  The  newspapers  had  got  their  les- 
son, and,  on  the  hint  from  the  property,  attacked 
King,  then  at  the  distance  of  two  hundred  miles 
from  London.  They  affected  to  regret  his  loss 
as  an  actor,  but  as  a  manager  they  thought  neither 
the  proprietors  nor  the  public  could  lament  his 
absence.  He  turns  these  points  very  neatly  in 
his  favour,  by  a  reply  such  as  he  used  of  old 
to  venture  to  his  friend  Garrick,  when  they 
differed. 

"  This  paragraph,"  he  writes,  "  I  cannot  but 
consider  as  highly  complimentary ;  for  it  gives 
me  positive  commendation  in  the  line  I  under- 
took to  fill,  and  only  obliquely  censures  me  for 
not  making  the  most  of  a  character  with  which 
I  have  never  been  entrusted." 

The  newspapers  boldly  accused  him  of  demand- 
ing, beyond  his  salary,  a  thousand  pounds  a  year 
for  managing  for  the  seven  next  years.  King  gets 
rid  of  this  by  saying  that  "  the  quantum  of  money 
had  never  been  an  object  of  dispute."  His  com- 
plaints, he  affirms,  rested  chiefly  on  the  undefined 
office  in  which  he  had  found  himself,  which  sub- 


MRS.   JORDAN  129 

jected  him  to  be  called  to  account  by  authors  for 
not  acting  pieces  which  he  had  never  heard  of ; 
for  not  encouraging  performers  with  whom  he  had 
no  power  to  treat ;  and  for  the  want  of  novelty 
which  it  was  no  part  of  his  province  to  provide. 
He  becomes  pleasant  as  he  proceeds :  "  Should 
any  one,  upon  hearing  this,  ask  me  'what  was 
my  post  at  Drury  Lane,  and,  if  I  was  not  man- 
ager, who  was  ? '  I  should  be  forced  to  answer, 
like  my  friend  Atall  in  the  comedy,  to  the  first, 
I  don't  know,  and  to  the  last,  I  can't  tell ;  I  can 
only  once  more  positively  assert  that  I  was  not 
manager;  for  I  had  not  the  power  by  any  agree- 
ment, nor,  indeed,  had  I  the  wish,  to  approve 
or  reject  any  new  dramatic  work;  the  liberty 
of  engaging,  encouraging,  or  discharging  any 
one  performer,  nor  sufficient  authority  to  com- 
mand the  cleaning  of  a  coat,  or  adding,  by  way 
of  decoration,  a  yard  of  copper  lace,  both  of 
which,  it  must  be  allowed,  were  often  much 
wanted." 

This  explanation  of  King's  produced  some 
effect.  Kemble  being  announced  as  manager, 
the  town  friends  of  King  attacked  him  for  ac- 
cepting the  trust  upon  humiliating  conditions. 
Kemble  was,  to  be  sure,  the  last  man  in  the 


130  MRS.   JORDAN 

world  to  be  suspected  of  doing  so ;  for  he  cer- 
tainly felt  his  own  value,  and  at  all  times  firmly 
asserted  it.  Though  the  writer  of  the  accusation 
was  that  villain  Anonymous,  Kemble  informed  the 
public,  rather  than  his  assailant,  "  that  no  humilia- 
tion degraded  his  services  to  those  who  did 
him  the  honour  to  employ  him ;  and  that  the 
power  entrusted  to  him  was  perfectly  satisfac- 
tory to  his  own  feelings,  and  entirely  adequate 
to  the  liberal  encouragement  of  poets,  of  per- 
formers, and  to  the  conduct  of  the  whole  business 
of  the  theatre." 

As  it  is  usual  in  such  cases,  the  politicians  of 
the  playhouse  split  into  parties.  The  one  set 
looked  upon  the  appointment  as  the  herald  of 
reviving  sense ;  the  other,  as  the  devotion  of  the 
whole  stage  to  the  interests  of  the  house  of 
Kemble.  But  the  truth  was,  his  system  of  man- 
agement was  precisely  that  of  Garrick,  with  a 
greater  desire  to  see  strength  everywhere.  He 
thought  more  of  the  whole  than  his  great  prede- 
cessor, whether  from  modesty  or  judgment.  Gar- 
rick,  knowing  himself  to  be  the  Pit  diamond, 
surrounded  himself  with  foil.  Kemble,  less  daz- 
zling, formed  a  cluster  of  kindred  value  about 
him.  His  scheme  of  management  was  a  good 


MRS.   JORDAN  131 

play  and  farce,  well  sorted,  and  strict  regularity 
in  every  part  of  the  concern.  Yet,  from  the  first 
hour  of  his  management,  I  can,  of  my  own  knowl- 
edge, assert  that  he  did  nothing  without  the  per- 
mission of  Mr.  Sheridan. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Kemble's  Management  from  October,  1788  —The  "Panel,"  for 
Mrs.  Jordan  —  Beatrice  and  Her  Gown  —  Her  Performance  in 
the  "  Confederacy  "  —  Her  Rosalind  Somewhat  Divides  the 
Town  — Whether  the  Sprightliness  or  the  Sensibility  Should 
Predominate  ?  —  Perhaps  the  Truer  Rosalind,  if  Shakespeare 
Were  to  Decide  —  Her  Nell,  in  the  "  Devil  to  Pay  "  —  Moody, 
in  Jobson  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Opinion  of  Her  Own  Art  —  Her 
Aspiration  after  the  Fine  Lady  —  Mr.  Cumberland  Writes  for 
Mrs.  Jordan  —  His  Comedy  of  the  "Impostors"  a  Hurried 
Composition  while  Writing  "  Calvary  "  —  The  "  Farm- 
house," Mrs.  Jordan's  Country  Lass — In  the  Summer  of 
1789,  Edwin  Engaged  Her  at  Richmond  —  The  King's 
Illness  Commenced  at  Cheltenham  when  Mrs.  Jordan  was 
There  —  The  Question  of  the  Regency  —  Display  of  Burke 
—  His  Vehement  Dexterity  —  King's  Recovery,  Sympathy  of 
the  Stage  —  Duel  between  the  Duke  of  York  and  Colonel 
Lennox  —  The  Drawing-room —  The  Opera  House  Destroyed 
by  Fire  —  The  French  Revolution. 

jHE  season  of  1788-89  commenced  in  the 
usual  way,  the  routine  of  the  last  season. 
Through  the  whole  month  of  October 
Mrs.  Jordan  had  very  little  rest,  and  performed  in 
both  pieces  with  untiring  zeal  and  great  attraction. 
Kemble  had  not  been  inattentive  to  her,  for  he 

13* 


MRS.   JORDAN  133 

had  found  time  to  make  a  capital  addition  to  her 
stock  of  afterpieces  by  cutting  down  a  comedy  of 
BickerstafP s  (taken  from  Calderon),  and  called  by 
him,  "  Tis  Well  It's  No  Worse."  Kemble  named 
his  farce,  however,  the  "  Panel,"  and  I  believe  he 
was  right ;  for  the  spectators  love  to  be  in  the 
secret,  while  the  actors  are  in  the  dark,  and  really 
enjoy  a  trick  the  more  because  it  is  none  to  them. 
Whoever  heard  Mrs.  Jordan,  in  Beatrice,  reiterat- 
ing her  charge  upon  Lazarillo  that  "he  certainly 
stole  her  gown,"  in  this  farce,  had  a  lesson  of 
comic  utterance  which  he  would  never  either  forget 
or  equal.  Vanbrugh's  "  Confederacy,"  also,  was  to 
receive  a  Cerinna  fully  equal  to  any  representative 
of  the  character  since  the  year  1705.  Her  Rosa- 
lind, in  "  As  You  Like  It,"  for  her  benefit,  some- 
what divided  the  town,  and  the  lovers  of  the 
sentimental  and  the  humourous  were  arranged 
under  the  standards  of  Siddons  and  Jordan.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  your  mood  determined  the  pref- 
erence at  the  time.  If  we  refer  ourselves  to 
Shakespeare,  who,  in  all  reason,  ought  to  deter- 
mine on  a  matter  so  entirely  his  own,  perhaps 
Rosalind  ought  to  excite  laughter.  She  seems  a 
being  of  such  natural  sprightliness,  that  it  is  hardly 
an  effort  for  her  to  put  down  everything  by  her 


134  MRS.  JORDAN 

wit.  She  assumes  the  style  of  a  saucy  forester, 
and  the  dress  of  a  boy  forest-born  ;  but  the  will 
cannot  give  the  power  for  the  occasion,  in  the 
degree  she  possesses  of  it :  think  of  such  an 
impromptu,  for  example,  as  the  costume  of  a 
lover,  the  different  paces  of  time,  her  dissection  of 
Jaques,  and  declaration,  as  it  seems,  of  her  real, 
not  assumed  advice,  —  "I  had  rather  have  a  fool  to 
make  me  merry,  than  experience  to  make  me  sad, 
and  to  travel  for  it  too."  Then,  again,  the  broad 
sally  upon  the  tardy  Orlando  : 

"  Break  an  hour's  promise  in  love  ?  he  that  will  divide  a 
minute  into  a  thousand  parts,  and  break  but  a  part  of  the 
thousandth  part  of  a  minute  in  the  affairs  of  love,  it  may 
be  said  of  him,  that  Cupid  hath  clapt  him  o'  th'  shoulder, 
but  I'll  warrant  him  heart-whole." 

Think,  too,  of  the  snail,  his  jointure  and  his  des- 
tiny. But  the  natural  buoyancy  of  Rosalind  is 
incessant,  and  her  wit  inexhaustible.  She  "met 
the  banished  duke,  her  father,  yesterday,  and  had 
much  question  with  him."  Do  his  losses,  his 
sufferings,  the  very  circumstance  of  his  not  detect- 
ing her,  at  all  soften  her  mind  ?  No  ;  she  is  able 
to  divert  herself  even  at  such  a  moment.  "He 
ask'd  me  of  what  parentage  I  was  ;  I  told  him  of 
as  good  as  he  ;  so  he  laugh'd,  and  let  me  go.  But 


MRS.   JORDAN  135 

what  talk  we  of  fathers,  when  there  is  such  a  man 
as  Orlando  ? " 

Besides,  therefore,  the  adaptation  of  her  figure 
to  the  moonish  youth,  I  can  have  no  doubt  that 
her  peculiar  animal  spirits  rendered  her  the  truer 
Rosalind.  She  sometimes  rather  carried  a  "  fore- 
hand shaft  "  too  home  perhaps  ;  but  acting  should 
not  be  moulded  to  the  sickly  appetite :  to  excite 
the  honest,  sincere,  hearty  laugh  of  the  healthful 
is  the  genuine  praise,  and  should  be  the  aim  of  the 
true  comedian.  We  should  remember,  too,  that 
to  render  all  this  comic  power  its  very  fullest 
effect,  she  acted  upon  a  stage  of  very  moderate 
compass,  and  in  a  theatre  that  would  not  hold 
more  than  ^350,  place  your  audience  ever  so 
close  to  each  other  —  that  she  was  at  the  time 
not  more  than  two  and  twenty,  of  great  activity 
and  neatness,  and  really  the  darling  of  the  public. 
To  speak  of  her  Nell,  in  the  "  Devil  to  Pay," 
which  she  acted  after  Rosalind,  is  unnecessary : 
those  who  have  seen  it  will  laugh  at  the  very 
word ;  those  who  have  not  may  rest  satisfied  that 
every  succeeding  performer  of  the  part  will  pre- 
serve some  of  her  na'fvet6,  with  such  powers  as 
they  can  bring  to  the  competition.  There  was  a 
dry,  sluggish  determination  about  Moody  that  ren- 


136  MRS.   JORDAN 

dered  his  strap  very  efficient.  His  manner  was 
peculiar,  but  he  was  a  valuable  actor,  and  most 
respectable  man. 

It  is  whimsical  in  such  an  actress  as  Mrs. 
Jordan  to  long  for  the  honours  of  polite  comedy, 
and  content  herself  with  a  titter  among  the  spec- 
tators, instead  of  the  convulsive  roar  of  laughter 
that  followed  the  genuine  workings  of  nature 
within  her.  The  secret  of  her  charm,  as  she  told 
a  friend,  was  that,  "when  she  had  mastered  the 
language  of  a  part,  she  said  to  Dame  Nature,  My 
head,  hands,  feet,  and  every  member  about  me, 
are  at  your  commandment,"  and  the  bountiful 
goddess  gave  her  no  farther  trouble  with  the  busi- 
ness. But  the  fine  lady  is  a  being  of  art,  and  I 
suppose  must  be  left  to  the  mode  which  fashioned 
her.  I  should  have  devoted  all  the  Lady  Bells  to 
Miss  Farren,  without  a  wish  for  the  flutter  of  the 
fan,  or  the  agony  of  the  drawing-room  curtsey ;  but 
it  was  her  foible,  and  managers  took  care  that  she 
should  not  stretch  such  pretensions  too  far.  I 
will  admit  that  it  may  cross  the  deliberation  of  an 
actress,  that  a  time  will  arrive  when  age,  or  per- 
haps, still  more  unluckily,  figure,  may  somewhat 
clash  with  the  performance  of  the  Romp,  and 
that  the  importance  can  only  be  kept  by  varying 


MRS.   JORDAN  137 

the  business  of  the  scene.  But  I  think  it  rarely 
happens  that  equal  celebrity  is  gained  in  a  second 
line.  The  excellence  that  captivates  at  first  takes 
so  strong  a  hold  that  even  the  character  she  first 
appeared  in  is  preferred  to  every  other,  even  to 
the  very  last  of  the  actress.  Clive  said  that  the 
town  would  prefer  Garrick  and  herself,  at  eighty, 
to  all  the  youth  of  the  theatre.  I  believe  they 
justified  her  opinion  of  their  good  taste. 

I  have  hitherto  lamented  that  no  one,  with 
powers  adequate  to  the  task,  had  undertaken  to 
write  for  Mrs.  Jordan ;  and  I  drew  the  limits,  I 
think,  accurately  (and  they  were  sufficiently  ex- 
tensive), within  which  an  author  of  genius  would 
be  sure  to  meet  with  the  happiest  aid  from  her 
talents.  Mr.  Cumberland  was  unquestionably  a 
writer  of  great  powers ;  but  he  was  unfortunately 
too  soon  satisfied  with  his  easy  conceptions,  and 
too  little  careful  to  keep  the  species  of  his  differ- 
ent compositions  distinct.  He  thus  imposed  a 
double  difficulty  upon  his  muse,  and  one  work  was 
unavoidably  injurious  to  the  other.  He  wrote  a 
novel  and  a  comedy  together,  and  recruited  his 
exhausted  spirits  by  dreaming  of  an  epic  poem. 
He  amused  himself  with  such  trifles  at  a  watering 
place,  and  could  not  be  astonished  if  they  partook 


138  MRS.  JORDAN 

of  the  idle  air  of  such  resorts,  and  like  their  other 
amusements  were  things  to  be  forgotten.  But  a 
dramatic  mind  will  always  do  something.  Cum- 
berland did  not  try  to  produce  a  "School  for 
Scandal,"  — 

"  For  though  the  poet's  matter  nature  be, 
His  art  must  give  the  fashion.     And  that  he, 
Who  casts  to  write  a  living  line,  must  sweat, 
(Such  as  thine  are)  and  strike  the  second  heat 
Upon  the  Muse's  anvil." 

However,  he  had  devoted  a  few  days  to  the 
composition  of  two  female  characters  in  full  con- 
trast, and  these  he  destined  for  Mrs.  Jordan  and 
Miss  Pope,  who  were  to  be  assailed  by  two  adven- 
turers, called,  instead  of  Aimwell  and  Archer, 
Lord  Janus  and  Polycarp.  The  latter,  I  presume, 
so  styled  as  fruitful  in  stratagems.  Miss  Pope  as 
the  Deborah  Sapient  had  all  the  novel  attributes 
of  antiquated  virginity  to  fancy ;  for  in  her  own 
person  she  had  none  of  them,  but  she  feigned  the 
thing  she  was  not,  and  disputed  the  palm  of  fine 
acting  with  Jordan,  who,  as  Miss  Eleanor,  pre- 
tended the  simplicity  that  she  was  far  above,  and 
displayed  both  sense  and  sensibility  of  no  common 
sort.  Cumberland  here  committed  an  error  in 
which  he  had  many  to  participate,  even  — 


MRS.  JORDAN  139 

"  The  greatest  and  the  best  of  all  the  train, 
Shakespeare." 

Like  the  "  Merchant  of  Venice,"  the  "  Impos- 
tors "  ended  in  the  fourth  act,  and  the  fifth  was 
made  up  of  such  matter  as  the  different  fertility 
of  the  two  poets  could  supply ;  in  Shakespeare  by 
the  two  rings  of  Portia  and  Nerissa,  and  in  Cum- 
berland by  incidents,  also  anticipated  by  the  audi- 
ence, but  loaded  by  useless  talk,  and  not  like  the 
hors  d'wtvre  of  Shakespeare,  sportive,  fanciful, 
and  diverting. 

The  epilogue  was  in  better  taste,  and  did  not 
spare  even  the  author,  for  the  following  couplets 
often  applied  to  him  : 

11  But  what  is  one  poor  puff  of  his  own  making 
When  all  around  him  the  wild  waves  are  breaking  ? 
Plunged  in  the  gulf,  like  Ceyx,  still  he  raves, 
Murmuring  his  own  applause  beneath  the  waves."  * 

The  conclusion  was  personal  as  to  the  speaker, 
and  enumerated  her  wide  range  of  utility  very 
pleasantly  and  pertinently : 

"  For  me,  tho'  poets  various  arts  employ 
To  make  me  wife,  maid,  widow,  man,  and  boy, 

1 "  Nominat  Halcyonen,  ipsisque  immunnurat  undis." 

—  Metam.,  xi.  567. 


140  MRS.  JORDAN 

Yet  all  this  while  there's  but  one  thing  in  nature 
I  truly  aim  to  be  —  your  faithful  creature. 
Here  I'm  at  home ;  this  is  my  natural  part ; 
This  character  flows  freely  from  my  heart." 

Mrs.  Jordan  acted  beautifully  in  this  comedy, 
but  it  was  too  weak  to  be  long-lived.  After  the 
first  night  it  waited  till  the  4th  of  February  for 
the  second,  and  closed  its  career  on  the  sixth, 
when  neither  author  nor  manager  expected  further 
profit  from  it.  As  this  author  seldom  suspected 
the  real  cause  of  his  failure,  he  might  not  be  quite 
content  with  what  satisfied  everybody  else.  It  is 
certain  that  he  only  once  mentions  Mrs.  Jordan  in 
his  memoirs,  and  merely  names  the  play  in  his 
progress  to  "  Calvary." 

Mr.  Kemble  again  employed  his  pruning-knife 
for  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  cut  down  the  old  "  Country 
Lasses"  of  Charles  Johnson  to  an  entertainment 
in  two  acts,  called  the  "Farmhouse."  Her  Aura 
was  extremely  diverting,  and  the  farce  augmented 
the  stock  list  of  very  attractive  afterpieces  at 
Drury  Lane  Theatre. 

In  the  summer  Edwin  opened  the  Richmond 
theatre,  and  announced  Mrs.  Jordan  in  an  occa- 
sional prologue,  of  which  the  poetry  was  not  ex- 
traordinary, but  it  describes  plainly  enough  the 


MRS.   JORDAN  141 

popularity  of  the  charmer,  and,  therefore,  a  few 
lines  of  it  may  be  pardoned  for  one  accuracy  — 
I  don't  mean  that  of  rhyme. 

11  My  next  vast  merit  I  must  have  a  word  on, 
Ecod!  d'ye  know  I've  got  you  Mistress  Jordan." 

And  then  he  notices  her  leg,  her  ankle,  foot, 
and  promises  the  girls  "  a  kiss  of  Sir  Harry ! " 
When  I  read  the  fishy  exclamation  which  is 
printed  in  italics,  I  wonder  that  the  licenser  of 
George  the  Third  should  have  had  no  sense  of  the 
profaneness  which  his  more  solemn  successor,  the 
author  of  "  Broad  Grins,"  would  now  surely  blot  in 
virtue  of  his  oath.  He  actually  struck  out  that 
positive  truism,  "  Cod's  fish,"  in  a  modern  farce,  I 
suppose  upon  the  authority  of  Hamlet.  "All 
which,  sir,  though  I  most  powerfully  and  potently 
believe,  yet  I  hold  it  not  honesty  to  have  it  thus 
set  down."  But  he  owes  the  world  nothing  on 
the  score  of  pleasantry,  at  all  events. 

The  long  and  melancholy  illness  of  the  king, 
which  originated  most  probably  at  Cheltenham, 
hung  heavily  upon  the  theatres  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  season.  The  stage,  however,  would 
not,  in  Johnson's  language,  "  echo  back  the  public 
voice,"  and  could  not  much  mitigate  the  public 


142  MRS.  JORDAN 

grief.  I  feel  little  disposition  to  enter  into  the 
angry  discussions  in  Parliament  upon  the  subject 
of  the  regency,  but  a  few  points  in  the  contro- 
versy, ran  nantes  in  gurgite  vasto,  claim  to  be 
remembered  for  their  neatness,  when  the  grave 
has  silenced  the  angry  feelings  of  genius  which 
produced  them.  Mr.  Burke  took  the  lead  in  such 
effusions.  "  He  had  heard  of  an  idea  entertained 
of  divine  right  in  the  house  of  Stuart,  but  he  had 
considered  it  long  exploded ;  but  of  late  it  had 
returned  unexpectedly  upon  us,  Lord  Chandos 
having  termed  the  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
a  heaven-born  minister.  The  right  was,  therefore, 
renewed  upon  earth,  and  only  transferred  from 
a  king  to  a  minister." 

In  the  same  debate,  being  called  to  order  by 
Mr.  Pitt,  and  the  intemperance  of  his  language 
being  sarcastically  reproved,  he  happily  retorted, 
"  That  if  he  had  expressed  himself  in  the  language 
of  passion,  it  arose,  not  from  a  hastiness  of  temper, 
but  from  a  deep  consideration  of  the  subject  —  he 
was  pursuing  the  game  of  ambition  itself,  and 
therefore  it  was  not  unnatural  to  be  a  little 
elevated." 

Upon  another  occasion  he  used  language  that 
seemed  indecorous,  whatever  might  be  thought  of 


MRS.   JORDAN  143 

the  proposition  it  laid  down.  He  said,  "The 
Almighty  had  been  pleased  to  smite  the  sovereign 
with  his  hand  ;  he  had  hurled  him  from  the  throne, 
and  put  him  in  the  condition  of  the  meanest  peas- 
ant in  the  country."  The  Marquis  of  Graham 
called  him  to  order,  and  was  about  to  move  that 
his  words  be  taken  down,  when  Burke  interrupted 
him  by  a  sentence,  that  at  once  softened  the  inde- 
corum, and  fired  his  envenomed  arrow  into  the 
bosom  of  the  House  itself.  "  The  lamented  situation 
of  the  sovereign  was  not  the  act  of  the  House,  but 
the  will  of  the  Divinity ;  but  depriving  his  blood, 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  from  the  full  inheritance  of 
his  authority,  was  an  act  of  that  House." 

How  exactly  did  Burke,  in  his  own  person, 
exemplify  the  course  he  himself  had  ascribed  to 
Junius.  "  He  has  carried  away  our  royal  eagle  in 
his  pounces,  and  dashed  him  against  a  rock;  but 
while  I  expected  in  this  daring  flight  his  final  ruin 
and  fall,  behold  him  rising  still  higher,  and  coming 
down  souse  upon  both  Houses  of  Parliament ;  yes, 
he  did  make  you  his  quarry,  and  you  still  bleed 
from  the  wounds  of  his  talons.  You  crouched, 
and  still  crouch,  beneath  his  rage." 

It  did  not  suit  Mr.  Burke  to  see  that  the  present 
question  was  of  a  trust,  not  an  inheritance,  and 


144  MRS.   JORDAN 

they  who  entrust  are  the  only  judges  of  the  quan- 
tum of  power  they  may  choose  to  delegate  —  all 
limitation  implies  unwillingness  to  trust  beyond 
the  absolute  necessity  of  the  case.  We  do  not 
make  laws  to  insult  our  imperfect  nature,  but  to 
restrain  it  against  possible  error  or  guilt.  They 
who  suppose  Pitt  would  have  been  more  complais- 
ant, had  his  office  been  secure,  do  not  know  the 
man.  His  father,  in  such  a  case,  might  have 
bowed  to  a  regent :  the  son,  less  impetuous,  was 
more  independent ;  he  was  a  calmer  spirit  of  equal 
pride. 

It  is  impossible,  in  going  through  the  business 
of  a  theatre  for  any  time,  to  be  insensible  to  the 
greater  interests  without.  All  that  I  can  hope  is, 
that  the  diversification  afforded  by  such  topics 
occasionally,  or  some  points  of  taste,  or  personality 
in  the  anecdotes,  may  atone  for  the  digressions,  if 
they  be  such. 

The  recovery  of  the  king  from  his  alarming 
indisposition  had  literally  rendered  the  country,  if 
not  wild,  extremely  elevated  in  their  joy,  and  a 
series  of  drawing-rooms  and  public  entertainments, 
given  by  the  foreign  ministers  and  the  members 
of  the  royal  family,  at  which  their  Majesties  were 
present,  testified  amply  that  the  recovery  was  no 


MRS.   JORDAN  145 

simulated  appearance,  but  an  absolute  fact ;  and  I 
cannot  doubt  that  the  late  furious  conduct  of  the 
opposition,  so  little  governed  by  the  doctrines 
which  they  had  long  upheld,  had  rendered  them 
unpopular  to  a  degree  beyond  even  the  expecta- 
tions of  the  minister,  whose  conduct  had  elevated 
him  in  the  esteem  of  his  royal  master,  contrary  to 
the  predictions  of  the  supporters  of  the  prince's 
claims  to  a  virtual  inheritance  of  the  royal  powers. 
While  matters  were  in  this  state,  an  occurrence 
happened  which  threw  a  damp,  in  some  measure, 
upon  the  brilliant  pleasures  of  the  time.  On  the 
field-day  of  the  Coldstream  regiment  of  guards, 
the  1 5th  of  May,  the  Hon.  Colonel  Lennox  ad- 
dressed himself  (I  cannot  but  think  improperly)  to 
his  colonel,  H.  R.  H.  the  Duke  of  York,  request- 
ing to  know  whether  his  Royal  Highness  had  said, 
"that  he  (Colonel  Lennox)  had  put  up  with  lan- 
guage unfit  for  any  gentleman  to  bear? "  The  duke, 
of  course,  at  such  a  time,  made  no  answer  to  the 
question,  but  ordered  the  colonel  to  his  post.  As 
soon  as  the  field-day  was  over,  his  Royal  Highness 
desired  the  attendance  of  all  the  officers  in  the 
orderly-room,  where  he  called  upon  Colonel  L. 
to  state  his  complaint.  When  he  had  done  so,  the 
duke  acknowledged  that  he  had  heard  improper 


146  MRS.  JORDAN 

language  had  been  put  up  with  by  the  colonel ; 
the  precise  words  he  declined  to  repeat,  and  upon 
being  pressed  as  to  the  author,  the  duke  said, 
"  Colonel  Lennox  might  consider  him  as  an  officer 
of  the  regiment,  and  call  upon  him  whenever  he 
pleased." 

This  opinion,  the  duke  said,  he  had  himself 
heard  given  by  a  member  at  Daubigny's  club, 
whom,  however,  he  would  not  name,  and  Colonel 
JLennox  wrote  individually  to  all  the  members  of 
the  club,  and  obtained  no  satisfactory  answer. 
This,  consequently,  made  the  matter  the  duke's 
own,  who  willingly  consented  to  give  the  satisfac- 
tion demanded  on  the  part  of  the  colonel,  and  a 
meeting  took  place  between  the  parties  on  the 
26th  at  Wimbledon,  a  convenient  distance,  and 
one  resorted  to  by  the  higher  class  of  disputants ; 
Lord  Rawdon  was  the  duke's  second,  Lord  Win- 
chilsea  Colonel  Lennox's.  It  ended  in  a  shot 
from  the  colonel,  which  struck  the  duke's  curl, 
who  declining  to  return  the  fire,  the  matter 
dropped,  his  Royal  Highness  refusing  to  give 
any  other  sort  of  satisfaction,  or  admitting  even 
that  he  now  considered  either  the  honour  or  the 
courage  of  the  colonel  established.  The  truth  is 
that,  as  to  personal  bravery,  there  could  not  be  a 


MRS.   JORDAN  147 

question.  Lennox  was  a  good-tempered,  careless 
man,  and  might  not  go  to  a  club -room  with 
a  porcupine's  fretfulness  about  him,  and  his  quills 
ready  to  challenge  every  smile  in  his  company. 
But  I  consider  the  affair  at  Wimbledon,  however 
impolitic,  because  the  danger  as  to  the  parties  was 
unequal,  to  have  been  one  of  the  bravest  things  in 
the  world.  Had  the  ball  taken  effect  one  inch 
from  its  course,  Lennox  could  not  have  lived  in 
this  country  the  remainder  of  his  existence. 

My  friend  Reynolds,  in  his  very  entertaining 
life,  tells  us  that  on  the  very  morning  of  the  duel, 
being  at  Lord's  cricket  ground,  he  saw,  crickefa\\y 
speaking,  "  standing  out "  in  the  long  field,  Lord 
Winchilsea  and  Colonel  Lennox,  both  of  whom 
seemed  wholly  occupied  by  their  game.  Lord 
Winchilsea  must  have  retired  from  this  pleasanter 
field  to  pen  the  account  of  the  duel  in  concert 
with  Lord  Rawdon,  for  it  was  inserted  next  day 
in  the  newspapers.  But  Colonel  Lennox  did  not 
abstain  from  any  of  his  usual  habits  on  account 
of  his  difference  with  royalty,  and  I  do  his  Royal 
Highness  the  duke  the  justice  to  say  that  he  per- 
sonally took  no  kind  of  exception  at  his  doing  so. 
He  readily  consented  to  anything  that  might  re- 
lieve Colonel  Lennox  from  his  present  embar- 


148  MRS.  JORDAN 

rassing  situation.  Accordingly,  after  a  military 
convention  of  the  Coldstream  in  the  orderly-room, 
and  a  deliberation  of  two  days,  the  officers  came 
to  the  following  decision :  "  It  is  the  opinion  of 
the  regiment  that,  subsequent  to  the  I5th  of  May, 
Lieutenant  -  Colonel  Lennox  has  behaved  with 
courage,  but,  from  the  peculiarity  of  the  circum- 
stances, not  with  judgment." 

His  judgment  may,  perhaps,  be  still  more  ques- 
tionable on  the  following  point.  On  the  4th  of 
June,  the  king's  birthday,  he  absolutely  presented 
himself  at  court,  and  stood  up  with  Lady  Catha- 
rine Barnard.  The  Prince  of  Wales  did  not  see 
this  until  he  and  his  partner,  the  princess  royal, 
came  to  Mr.  Lennox's  place  in  the  dance,  when, 
struck  with  the  incongruity,  he  took  the  princess's 
hand  just  as  she  was  about  to  be  turned  by  Mr. 
Lennox,  and  led  her  to  the  bottom  of  the  dance. 
The  Duke  of  York  and  the  Princess  Augusta 
came  next,  and  they  turned  the  colonel  without 
the  least  particularity  or  exception.  The  Duke  of 
Clarence  and  the  Princess  Elizabeth  came  next, 
and  his  Highness  followed  the  example  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales.  The  dance  proceeded,  however, 
and  Colonel  Lennox  and  his  lovely  partner  danced 
down  ;  when  they  came  to  the  prince  and  princess 


MRS.   JORDAN  149 

his  Royal  Highness  took  his  sister  and  led  her  to 
her  chair  by  the  queen.  Her  Majesty,  addressing 
herself  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  said,  "You  seem 
heated,  sir,  and  tired."  "  I  am  heated  and  tired, 
madam,"  said  the  prince,  "not  with  the  dance, 
but  tired  of  dancing  in  such  company."  "Then, 
sir,"  said  the  queen,  "  it  will  be  better  for  me  to 
withdraw,  and  put  an  end  to  the  ball."  "  It  cer- 
tainly will  be  so,"  replied  the  prince,  "  for  I  never 
will  countenance  insults  given  to  my  family,  how- 
ever they  may  be  treated  by  others."  At  the 
end  of  the  dance,  accordingly,  her  Majesty  and 
the  princesses  withdrew,  and  the  ball  concluded. 
The  prince,  with  his  natural  gallantry,  explained 
to  Lady  Catharine  Barnard  the  reason  of  his  con- 
duct, and  assured  her  ladyship  that  it  gave  him 
much  pain  to  have  been  under  the  necessity  of 
acting  in  a  manner  that  might  subject  a  lady  to 
a  moment's  embarrassment. 

Thus,  with  a  single  country-dance,  ended  the 
ball  of  St.  James's  on  his  Majesty's  birthday,  from 
which  he  had  determined  so  wisely  to  be  absent ; 
and  thus,  in  the  language  of  Voltaire,  toute  fut 
consterne'  dans  le  plus  agrtable  des  chateaux  pos- 
sibles. 

The  Opera  House  had  been  designed  by  Sir 


ISO  MRS.   JORDAN 

John  Vanbrugh,  and  was  finished  in  the  year 
1706.  Its  success,  at  first,  was  so  very  equivocal, 
that  when  Nicolini  and  Valentina  were  sent  for 
from  Italy,  the  following  classical  epigram  was 
levelled  at  the  concern  : 

««  To  emulate  Araphion's  praise, 

Two  Latian  heroes  come, 
A  sinking  theatre  to  raise, 

And  prop  Van's  tottering  dome. 

"  But  how  this  last  should  come  to  pass, 

Must  still  remain  unknown, 
Since  these  poor  gentlemen,  alas ! 
Bring  neither  brick  nor  stone." 

I  was  coming  across  the  park  from  Pimlico,  on 
the  night  of  the  i/th  of  June,  when,  upon  turning 
the  corner  of  the  queen's  house,  this  dreadful 
conflagration  burst  upon  my  eye  —  it  seemed  as 
if  the  long  lines  of  trees  in  the  Mall  were  waving 
in  an  atmosphere  of  flame.  The  fire  appears  to 
have  commenced  in  the  roof,  and  the  demonstra- 
tion to  have  taken  place  rather  earlier  than  the 
incendiary  had  calculated.  The  dancers  had  been 
rehearsing  a  ballet  upon  the  stage  that  evening, 
and  sparks  of  fire  fell  upon  their  heads,  and  in 
great  terror  they  effected  their  escape.  Madame 
Ravelli  was  with  great  difficulty  saved  by  a  fire- 


MRS.   JORDAN  151 

man.  Madame  Guimard  lost  a  slipper,  but  her 
feet,  as  they  ever  did,  bore  her  safely. 

There  never  was  the  least  doubt  in  the  world 
that  the  malignity  of  some  foreign  miscreant  had 
systematically  effected  the  destruction  of  the 
building :  the  whole  roof  was  in  combustion  at 
one  moment ;  a  cloud  of  heavy  smoke,  for  a  few 
seconds,  hung  over  the  building,  succeeded  by 
a  volume  of  flames,  so  fierce  that  they  were  felt 
in  St.  James's  Square,  and  so  bright  that  you 
might  have  read  by  them  as  at  noonday.  A  very 
excellent  artist,  who  had  been  many  years  con- 
nected with  the  Opera  House,  told  me  that  Carne- 
vale,  upon  his  death-bed,  revealed  the  name  of  the 
incendiary. 

As  was  customary  in  those  days,  the  Bridewell 
boys  served  their  great  engine  with  the  vigour  of 
youth  and  the  calm  sagacity  of  veterans.  Burke 
might  have  come  out  of  Carlton  House;  he  was 
standing  before  it,  and  anxiously  directing  the 
attention  of  the  firemen  to  its  preservation.  Mr. 
Vanbrugh,  a  descendant  of  Sir  John,  was  in  the 
greatest  peril  of  all  the  sufferers  —  he  had  an 
annuity  of  eight  hundred  pounds,  secured  upon 
the  building.  Some  houses  in  Market  Lane,  the 
usual  rubbish  about  a  theatre,  were  destroyed 


1 52  MRS.  JORDAN 

along  with  the  Opera  House.  The  stables  of  the 
Whitehorse  Inn  also  were  a  prey  to  the  flames, 
and  at  the  back  of  the  ruin  the  fire  was  burning 
even  fiercely,  though  low,  at  twelve  o'clock  the 
next  day.  The  books  of  the  theatre  were  saved  ; 
so  was  the  chest,  in  which  there  was  about  eight 
hundred  pounds,  and  this  was  nearly  all  that  was 
preserved.  Never  was  devastation  more  complete. 

However,  Novosielsky  erected,  upon  the  old 
site,  a  theatre  really  suited  to  the  object,  admira- 
bly calculated  for  sound,  and  afforded  that  mag- 
nificent refuge  to  the  Drury  Lane  company, 
which,  perhaps,  disposed  both  our  managers 
to  erect  playhouses  which  were  fit  for  nothing 
but  operas. 

But  we  were  fallen  upon  days  in  which  such 
a  mischief  as  the  above  was  a  trifle,  injuring  a  few 
individuals  at  most,  and  reparable  by  their  own 
ingenuity  and  enterprise,  with  the  ready  benevo- 
lence of  those  who  have  charity  far  beyond  their 
pleasures.  France  now  began  to  wear  an  appear- 
ance which,  to  the  intelligent,  indicated  a  con- 
vulsion transcending  all  that  fiction  had  ever 
imagined : 

41  More  than  history  could  pattern,  though  devis'd, 
And  play'd  to  take  spectators." 


MRS.  JORDAN  153 

The  affliction  and  recovery  of  our  own  monarch 
were  rapidly  followed  by  the  insult,  the  degrada- 
tion, the  captivity,  and  the  sacrifice  of  his  great 
rival ;  and  the  stage,  which  had  poured  out  its 
song  of  triumph  on  the  first  theme,  was  soon  to 
display  its  puny  imitation  of  the  terrors  and  vic- 
tories of  the  second,  to  discover  freedom  in  the 
excesses  of  a  hired  rabble,  and  the  regeneration  of 
the  human  race  in  a  government  without  balance, 
in  which  parties  immolated  each  other  in  succes- 
sion, and  any  opinions  held  beyond  the  ascendant 
of  the  hour  exposed  the  venerable  and  the  wise, 
the  virtuous  and  the  beautiful,  to  the  pike  of  the 
assassin,  or  the  equally  thirsty  axe  of  the  guillo- 
tine. Such  exhibitions  of  the  stage  require  tact 
rather  than  talent ;  the  writers  keep  up  the  mad- 
ness of  the  hour,  and  are  hardly  named  when  it 
is  past.  Any  attempt  at  composition  would  be 
ridiculous,  and  useless  if  it  were  made ;  happier 
in  one  thing  than  the  events  they  celebrate,  that 
the  dramas  may  be  forgotten  with  pleasure,  and 
the  subjects  of  them  are  held  in  constant  and 
painful  remembrance.1 

1  After  all  the  horrible  excesses  of  the  revolutionary  mania 
had  passed  away,  and  the  vast  talents  of  Bonaparte  had  re- 
duced the  discordant  elements  to  subjection,  when  the  Bourbons 


154  MRS.  JORDAN 

had  revisited  and  occupied  their  ancient  throne,  and  a  charter 
had  been  consecrated  which  seemingly  established  them  for 
ages,  a  childish  invasion  of  representative  rights  and  the  freedom 
of  the  press  has  driven  Charles  the  Tenth  and  his  family  once 
more  into  exile,  and  stained  his  brief  annals  with  the  blood  of 
his  people,  unnecessarily  and  wantonly  shed.  But  Napoleon  had 
pardoned  the  Polignacs,  who  were  in  his  power.  —  August,  1830. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Summer  of  1789  —  Tate  Wilkinson's  Benefit  at  Leeds,  Mrs. 
Jordan  Arrives  to  Act  for  Him  —  The  Yorkshire  Prudery  — 
Mrs.  Jordan  at  Harrowgate  on  Her  Way  to  Join  Mr.  Jackson 
at  Edinburgh  —  Mrs.  Siddons  at  York  —  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots — Mrs.  Fawcett's  Compliment  to  Her  —  Mrs.  Siddons 
Prefers  to  Act  in  London,  and  Why  —  Mrs.  Jordan  and  Miss 
Farren  in  the  Same  Places  —  The  Prince  of  Wales  —  Miss 
Catley's  Death  — The  "Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona"  Idly 
Revived  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  First  Appearance  at  Drury  Lane 
This  Season,  so  Late  as  February,  1 790  —  Mr.  Kemble  En- 
gages Her  Brother,  Bland  —  He  Acts  Sebastian  to  Her  Viola 

—  Mrs.  Behn's   "Rover"  Altered  by  Mr.  Kemble  —  Jordan 
and  Woffington  in  Hellena  —  Young  Bannister  —  His  Char- 
acter through  Life  —  Morris's  "  Adventurers  "  —  Mrs.  Jordan's 
Little  Pickle  —  The  "  Spoil'd  Child  "  Called  Her  Own,  Perhaps 
Bickerstaff's  —  The    "  Intriguing    Chambermaid  "  —  "  Better 
Late  than   Never" — Mrs.    Jordan  the   Heroine  —  Munden 
Comes  to  Town  from  Chester  —  Mrs.  Jordan  Plays  Celia  in 
the  "  Humourous   Lieutenant "  of    Fletcher  —  Beauties  of 
That  Character  —  Her  Alarming  Epilogue  by  Harry  Bunbury 

—  Summer  of  1791,  a  Journey  to  York  —  Kemble  vice  Jordan. 

[RS.  JORDAN,  in  the  summer  of   1789, 
took  her  usual  northern  tour;  and  her 
old   manager,    Tate   Wilkinson,   having 
been  crippled  by  accident,  received  a  letter  from 
her,  to  tell  him  that  she  would  act  at  Leeds  for 
'55 


156  MRS.  JORDAN 

his  benefit,  and  appointing  the  play  and  farce. 
We  are  here  furnished  with  a  lively  instance  of 
her  power  of  sustaining  fatigue.  The  night  fixed 
upon  was  Monday,  the  6th  of  July,  and  at  two 
o'clock  of  that  day  Mrs.  Jordan  was  not  arrived. 
The  manager  in  distress  had  put  off  his  benefit 
until  the  Wednesday ;  but  at  half-past  four  on  the 
Monday  she  sent  him  word  that  she  was  just  ar- 
rived, and  ready  to  act  Sir  Harry  Wildair  and  Nell 
on  that  very  evening,  and  was  quite  astonished  to 
see  the  play  changed.  She  had  come  post  from 
London,  and  was  in  the  family-way  very  obviously. 
The  play  not  having  been  done  at  the  theatre  a 
long  time,  needed  rehearsal.  She  told  Tate  that, 
if  she  did  not  act  that  night  she  could  not  play  at 
all,  for  she  was  on  the  wing  to  Edinburgh,  with  a 
£500  penalty  to  pay  if  she  did  not  arrive  at  the 
appointed  time.  By  great  persuasion  she  consented 
to  stay  till  the  Wednesday,  but  when  he  hinted 
at  the  gratis  performance,  she  said  that  was  now 
quite  out  of  the  question,  her  time  was  too  val- 
uable just  then ;  if  she  stayed  she  should  be  put 
to  great  inconvenience,  and  must  have  thirty 
guineas.  However,  she  agreed  to  accept  twenty, 
and  stay  the  two  days  for  her  old  friend,  and  on 
Wednesday  astonished  the  precise  ladies  of  Leeds 


MRS.   JORDAN  157 

with  Sir  Harry  Wildair  and  his  gallantries.  The 
manager  fancied  the  applause  not  so  violent  as 
she  had  been  accustomed  to  in  London,  and  sup- 
posed that  the  country  ladies  did  not  think  Sir 
Harry's  chastity  improved  by  a  female  representa- 
tive. This  fact  I  have  already  presumed  to  doubt ; 
and  as  to  the  applause,  the  payment  of  twenty 
guineas,  unwillingly,  might  make  a  lame  man,  with 
a  doctor  and  apothecary  at  his  elbow,  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  it.  Nell,  at  all  events,  had  none  of  Far- 
quhar's  freedom  to  restrain  the  thunder  of  applause. 
It  is  dangerous  to  begin  the  habit  of  resting  on  a 
journey,  for  upon  leaving  Leeds  she  reached  Har- 
rowgate,  only  fourteen  miles  off,  when  a  subscrip- 
tion purse  from  the  company  at  the  different  hotels 
so  strongly  tempted  her  that  she  agreed  to  re- 
cruit herself  there  for  three  or  four  days,  and 
diversify  the  amusements  of  the  devotees  to  sul- 
phurated springs.  But  the  penalty,  which  she 
had  awaked  at  Leeds  to  operate  upon  Tate  Wilkin- 
son, was  brought  still  nearer  enforcement  by  her 
stay  at  Harrowgate  ;  and,  on  her  arrival  at  Edin- 
burgh, she  found  Jackson  seriously  offended  and 
disposed  to  litigation. 

When  Mrs.  Siddons  was  at  York  this  summer, 
she  put  up  for  her  benefit  her  friend  St.  John's 


158  MRS.  JORDAN 

tragedy  of  "  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,"  which  the 
sympathy  of  all  ranks,  rather  than  any  genius  in 
the  play,  rendered  endurable.  I  mention  it  to 
notice  a  circumstance  honourable  to  the  taste  and 
feeling  of  the  first  Mrs.  Fawcett,  a  lady  of  great 
merit.  The  manager  sent  her  the  part  of  Eliza- 
beth to  study.  Her  reply  was  remarkable ;  she 
said  "  she  would  willingly  incur  the  forfeit  rather 
than  act  a  character  which  she  judged  so  ill- 
drawn  ; l  and  under  any  other  actress  than  Mrs. 

1 1  do  not  know  whether  Mrs.  F.  went  historically  to  work  in 
her  objections,  or  whether  she  looked  at  the  part  of  Elizabeth 
merely  as  an  actress.  But  St.  John  makes  the  death  of  Mary  pro- 
ceed immediately  from  the  St.  Bartholomew,  an  event  at  thirteen 
years  distance.  Sir  Amias  Paulet  too  is  exhibited  as  a  savage 
gaoler  in  the  play;  but  his  noble  letter  to  Walsingham  quite 
passed  over.  "  I  have  great  grief  and  bitterness  of  mind,  that  I 
have  liven,"  says  he,  "  to  see  this  unhappy  day,  in  the  which  I 
am  required,  by  direction  from  my  most  gracious  sovereign,  to 
do  an  act  which  God  and  the  law  forbiddeth."  Evidently  an 
order  to  make  away  with  his  royal  prisoner.  I  suppose  the  hypo- 
crite had  provided  for  her  own  "  clearance,"  like  Macbeth,  and 
had  not  the  slightest  fear  of  seeing  the  spirit  of  her  murdered 
victim  at  any  banquet  given  for  her  supposed  success.  Sir  Dm 
Drury,  though  not  named  in  the  command,  put  his  name  to  the 
reply.  At  the  dreadful  St.  Bartholomew,  the  wretched  Charles 
the  Ninth  was  told  by  the  governor  of  a  fortress :  "  Sire,  I  have 
communicated  your  orders  to  the  garrison  under  my  command ; 
I  find  in  it  many  loyal  subjects  and  brave  soldiers,  but  not  one 
executioner."  I  will  not  sully  the  humanity  of  our  two  country- 
men by  saying  that  they  might  conceive  as  much  danger  to 


MRS.   JORDAN  159 

Siddons,  she  would  never  consent  to  do  it."  Any- 
thing that  could  more  happily  mark  that,  with  that 
great  woman,  all  competition  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, will  not  easily  be  found.  With  any  other 
actress  some  equality  in  the  parts  might  be  a 
thing  of  consideration. 

As  we  have  been  led  to  mention  Mrs.  Siddons 
and  the  performance  by  her  of  the  leading  charac- 
ters in  tragedy,  let  me  just  notice  the  preference 
she  felt  for  London,  and  the  reason  for  it.  She 
explained  herself  thus  to  her  friend,  the  York 
manager.  "Acting  Isabella,  for  instance,"  said 
she,  "  out  of  London  is  double  the  fatigue.  There 
the  loud  and  long  applause,  at  the  great  points 
and  striking  situations,  invigorated  the  system; 
the  time  it  occupied  recruited  the  breath  and 
nerve.  A  cold,  respectful,  hard  audience  chills 
and  deadens  an  actress,  and  throws  her  back 
upon  herself ;  whereas  the  warmth  of  approbation 
confirms  her  in  the  character,  and  she  kindles  with 
the  enthusiasm  she  feels  around  her." 

Mrs.  Jordan  said  the  same  thing  of  her  York- 
shire audiences,  and  at  one  time  declared  she 
never  would  act  again  among  them.  The  courtly 

reside  in  the  compliance  as  resistance.  This  poor  Davison,  the 
secretary,  experienced  to  his  ruin. 


160  MRS.   JORDAN 

style  of  Miss  Farren  suited  them  better :  Lady 
Milner  used  to  sport  the  friend  she  so  highly 
esteemed  in  the  stage-box ;  and  she  was  this 
summer  in  the  very  highest  vogue,  for  the  Prince 
of  Wales  patronised  her,  and  the  effect  of  his 
decided  taste  made  her  receipts  almost,  for  a  few 
nights,  emulate  those  of  Mrs.  Siddons  herself,  the 
greatest  theatrical  favourite  that  the  country  had 
ever  known. 

The  family  of  Catley  coming  from  Yorkshire, 
I  am  reminded  of  the  decease  of  a  favourite  of 
that  name,  the  celebrated  Anne  Catley,  whom  I 
could  only  know  when  a  visible  decline  was  sap- 
ping the  vital  power  that  bore  her  once  triumph- 
antly above  all  humourous  singers. 

Miss  Catley  was,  I  think,  married  to  General 
Lascelles,  and  left  a  large  family  by  him,  four 
sons  and  four  daughters ;  however,  her  will  was 
signed  Anne  Cateley,  and  was  written  entirely 
in  her  own  hand.  The  good  sense  that  she 
unquestionably  possessed  appears  eminently  in 
the  final  settlement  of  her  property.  She  makes 
Gen.  Francis  Lascelles  sole  executor,  and  be- 
queaths him  ten  pounds  for  a  mourning  ring. 
The  eldest  of  her  four  daughters  at  the  time  of 
her  decease  was  to  have  her  wearing  apparel, 


MRS.   JORDAN  16 1 

watch,  trinkets,  etc.,  as  a  distinction ;  in  all  other 
respects,  the  four  sons  and  four  daughters  were  to 
have  equal  shares  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
and,  until  then,  their  shares  were  to  be  invested 
in  the  funds,  and  considered,  as  to  the  interest, 
applicable  to  their  education.  She  had  bought  the 
house  in  which  she  died  at  Baling  for  the  daugh- 
ters, and,  as  far  as  a  provident  parent  could  do, 
established  them  respectably.  The  probate  called 
her  property  ^5,000,  but  this  was  far  from  being 
the  whole  of  it. 

There  was  in  her  personal  character  a  good  deal 
of  the  careless  boldness  of  Woffington ;  like  her, 
too,  she  was  extremely  handsome,  and  her  eye  and 
mouth  had  a  peculiar  expression  of  archness.  She 
aimed  at  the  almost  manly  frankness  of  speech, 
and  acted  as  one  superior  to  censure  when  she 
raised  the  wonder  of  prudery.  Catley  had  an 
understanding  too  sound  to  vindicate  the  indiscre- 
tions of  her  youth ;  but  her  follies  did  not  long 
survive  that  period,  and  she  amply  atoned  in  her 
maturity  for  the  scandal  she  had  excited  formerly 
in  society.  There  was  a  graceful  propriety  in 
her  domestic  concerns.  She  was  never  profuse, 
and  could  therefore  be  liberal  in  all  her  arrange- 
ments. In  her  youth  she  had  been  acquainted 


1 62  MRS.   JORDAN 

with  difficulties,  and  the  lesson  was  ever  present 
to  her  mind.  Her  ear  was  always  open  to  the  un- 
happy, and  her  hand  was  enabled  by  economy  to 
spare  no  scanty  relief  to  strangers  without  invading 
the  provision  she  had  destined  for  her  family. 
In  the  great  relations  of  life  as  a  daughter,  wife, 
mother,  and  friend,  she  was  on  principle  steady 
and  exemplary.  Her  complaint,  a  pulmonary  con- 
sumption, had  wasted  her  to  a  shade,  and  it  had 
lingered  beyond  the  usual  term  of  that  baneful 
yet  flattering  pest.  She  was  but  forty-four  at  the 
time  of  her  decease.  There  were  many  points 
of  similarity  between  Mrs.  Jordan  and  Miss 
Catley ;  not  that  the  former  ever  possessed  the 
nerve  or  the  prudence  of  the  latter. 

I  am  sure  that  I  seldom  feel  inclined  to  revoke 
at  the  suit  of  Shakespeare,  but  I  never  could 
understand  Kemble's  reason  for  evoking  the  "  Two 
Gentlemen  of  Verona  "  from  oblivion,  in  the  month 
of  January,  1790.  If,  in  the  administration  of 
Garrick,  with  Holland  and  O'Brien,  King  and 
Yates,  Miss  Bride  and  Mrs.  Yates,  nothing  came 
of  this  dramatic  nothing,  what  was  to  be  expected 
from  Wroughton  and  Barrymore,  Bannister  and 
Dodd,  Mrs.  Kemble  and  Mrs.  Goodall?  It  has 
hardly  sufficient  interest  for  an  opera ;  for  the 


MRS.  JORDAN  163 

soliloquy  of  Launce,  coming  on  with  his  dog  Crab 
to  talk  to  the  audience,  is  in  the  very  lowest  style 
of  the  booth,  and  surely  never  excited  any  con- 
siderable laughter.  There  is  a  prettiness  in  parts 
of  the  dialogue  without  nerve,  hints  of  scenes  that 
should  have  been  elaborated  by  the  poet,  and  of 
characters  to  which  he  afterward  added  that  giant 
strength  which,  either  in  tragedy  or  comedy,  he 
alone  could  infuse  into  dramatic  nature. 

Mrs.  Jordan  did  not  appear  this  season  at  Drury 
Lane  until  the  8th  of  February,  1790,  so  that  in 
fact  neither  in  tragedy  nor  comedy  could  the 
manager  avail  himself  of  his  greatest  force.  He 
acted  himself  in  a  few  monodramas,  such  as 
"Henry  the  Fifth,"  and  the  happy  start  of  the 
Storaces  in  opera,  with  Cobb  and  Prince  Hoare 
to  furnish  dialogue  and  point  to  the  counterpoint 
of  the  composer,  kept  him  alive  until  his  comic 
muse  returned,  which  he  had  at  length  the  pleas- 
ure to  see;  and  the  Country  Girl,  in  charming 
health,  took  her  usual  hold  of  the  fashionable 
visitors  and  the  public  in  general. 

To  oblige  Mrs.  Jordan,  Kemble  found  or  made 
a  situation  for  her  brother,  Mr.  Bland,  and  he  acted 
Sebastian,  in  "  Twelfth  Night,"  to  her  Viola,  com- 
bining their  natural  with  stage  relationship.  Per- 


1 64  MRS.   JORDAN 

haps  he  was  personally  more  like  her  than  a 
stranger  to  her  blood ;  and  as  in  his  figure  he  did 
not  tower  above  the  disguised  sister,  the  mistake 
of  one  for  the  other  less  offended  the  spectator's 
eye.  But  it  was  not  in  this  family  that  the  males 
shared  the  genius  of  the  females  —  that  proud  dis- 
tinction the  "  bountiful  blind  woman "  reserved 
for  the  Kembles. 

On  the  8th  of  March,  Kemble  revived  Mrs. 
Behn's  comedy  of  the  "  Rover,"  which  he  called 
"  Love  in  Many  Masks,"  a  confused  and  unin- 
viting title ;  but  he  had  Mrs.  Jordan  for  the  suc- 
cessor of  Woffington,  in  the  part  of  Hellena,  and 
Wilmore  he  acted  himself.  Blunt,  which  had  been 
performed  by  Shuter,  lost  nothing  by  being 
trusted  to  the  whim  of  Bannister,  an  actor  who 
now  had  established  himself  as  the  youthful  eccen- 
tric of  the  middle  comedy,  and  the  hero  of  the 
eccentric  farce ;  the  male  counterpart  of  the 
Romp  in  her  gaiety,  and,  still  more  to  his 
honour,  her  only  rival  in  the  expression  of  feeling 
that  did  not  character  as  tragic. 

Men,  when  made  up  of  whim,  like  Bannister, 
commonly  fly  out  of  the  course,  and,  however 
diverting  in  their  humQur,  secure  everything  but 
respect  from  the  world  whom  they  cheer.  But, 


MRS.   JORDAN  165 

from  my  first  knowledge  of  Bannister  to  the 
present  hour,  he  made  his  prudence  a  guard  over 
his  festivity,  and  though  no  man  was  ever  more 
solicited  in  social  life,  his  amusement  neither  dis- 
turbed his  business  nor  deranged  his  circum- 
stances :  he  could  always  dispense  the  liberal  aid 
which  he  did  not  need,  and  never  drew  on  him- 
self, in  a  single  instance,  that  I  remember,  the 
displeasure  of  the  public.  Being  his  contemporary 
through  no  trivial  series  of  years,  I  remember  him 
in  tragedy,  and  am  not  sorry  that  he  put  off  the 
buskin  early  in  his  career.  Unless  the  power  in 
tragedy  is  transcendent,  excellence  in  comedy  ren- 
ders it  questionable,  and  often,  from  some  unlucky 
recollections,  ridiculous.  When  the  actor  attains 
the  wonderful  in  both,  his  universality  enlarges  his 
honours.  The  genius  of  John  Bannister  met  with 
a  congenial  author  in  Mr.  Prince  Hoare,  who  may 
perhaps,  as  a  farce  writer,  be  said  to  have  best 
suited  his  talent.  But  this  palm  is  powerfully 
contested  by  very  able  men.  Yet  whatever  con- 
test may  exist  among  the  writers  of  farce,  there 
is  none  whatever,  where  Bannister  is  concerned, 
among  the  performers.  I  have  seen  no  actor  at 
all  near  him  where  he  was  fully  himself. 

On  the  1 8th  of  this  month,  Mr.  Morris,  then  I 


1 66  MRS.  JORDAN 

believe  at  college,  had  a  farce  at  Drury  Lane, 
called  the  "Adventurers."  Peregrine  was  the 
part  designed  for  Bannister ;  but  Sir  Peregrine,  a 
man  uniformly  unlucky,  was  given  by  Suett  in  a 
style  that  carried  the  competition  in  his  favour. 
This  author  became  a  Master  in  Chancery,  with 
"his  statutes,  his  recognisances,  his  fines,  his 
double  vouchers,  his  recoveries ; "  but  alas,  the 
profession  of  literature  should  be  lucrative  for 
more  than  two  in  an  age,  for  any  man  of  talents 
to  follow  their  bent,  and  forsake  the  substantial 
for  the  tempting  and  perhaps  the  delusive,  but 
certainly  never  the  permanent. 

For  her  benefit  this  season  Mrs.  Jordan,  after 
the  "  Belle's  Stratagem,"  presented  a  farce  called 
the  "Spoil'd  Child,"  and  her  Little  Pickle  took 
its  run  among  the  romps  of  both  sexes,  which 
her  immortal  youth  long  continued  to  supply 
with  the  frolic  of  the  pinafore  and  the  tucker. 
Pickle  was  ascribed  to  Mrs.  Jordan  herself,  then 
to  Mr.  Ford,  whose  Little  Pickle  was  still  younger, 
we  know.  The  truth  is,  I  suppose,  the  exile  Bick- 
erstaff,  whose  Sultan  had  been  kept  alive  by  Mrs. 
Jordan,  still  tried  occasionally  to  be  received  under 
cover,  and  that  the  "  Spoil'd  Child "  might  yet 
contribute  to  the  support  of  its  parent. 


MRS.   JORDAN  167 

I  touch  only  upon  the  new  performances  of 
Mrs.  Jordan,  the  routine  is  already  known.  It  is 
true  that  new  study  and  a  number  of  rehearsals 
may  be  fatiguing  to  an  actress  who  has  to  act  five 
out  of  six  nights  through  a  winter  season ;  but  it 
may  be  observed  that,  though  the  audiences  are 
changed,  the  parts  remain  the  same,  and  it  is  im- 
possible for  them  not  to  tire  the  performer  upon 
endless  repetition  ;  so  that,  however  burthened,  it 
is  usual  to  wish  —  not  that  the  weight  may  be 
lessened  or  the  duty  abridged,  but  that  the  quality 
of  the  burthen  may  be  a  little  altered.  In  the 
season  of  1790-91  the  "Intriguing  Chamber- 
maid "  of  Henry  Fielding,  which  he  had  dedicated 
to  Mrs.  Clive,  was  revived  for  Mrs.  Jordan,  and 
produced  the  most  laughable  effects.  We  may 
imagine  that  Mr.  Kemble  looked  carefully  over 
the  dialogue.  Palmer  distinguished  himself  in  the 
character  of  the  drunken  colonel,  and  with  Mrs. 
Jordan  merited  less  disputable  matter,  —  the  farce 
was  not  a  general  favourite. 

On  the  i /th  of  November,  1790,  Miles  Peter 
Andrews,  who  had  a  lively  ambition  for  comic 
fame,  produced  a  comedy  written  by  himself, 
Reynolds,  and  Topham,  but  what  was  remark- 
able in  the  composition  was  its  being  without  the 


1 68  MRS.   JORDAN 

smallest  attempt  at  novelty.  Mrs.  Jordan,  who 
performed  the  heroine  in  various  disguises,  ruins 
the  circumstances  of  Mr.  Kemble,  Saville,  whom 
she  intends  to  marry.  There  is  an  under-plot  of 
a  Sir  Charles  Chouce  and  the  Flurries,  and  a  Mr. 
Pallet,  the  painter,  and  a  Litigamus  for  Bannister, 
Jr.  It  was  a  thing  of  shreds  and  patches,  and 
one  of  the  parties  had  only  to  shake  off  his  asso- 
ciates and  trust  entirely  to  himself,  earnestly  and 
assiduously,  to  become  a  dramatist,  who  is  likely 
to  excite  laughter  for  more  than  a  century.  "  Bet- 
ter Late  Than  Never  "  was  not  strong  enough  to 
run.  It  was  kindly  contrasted  in  its  course  by 
the  "  School  for  Scandal  "  and  the  "  Rivals ;  "  by 
which  a  manager  might  seem  to  be  more  solici- 
tous for  his  own  popularity  than  the  success  of 
the  new  candidate.  Besides  that,  not  to  run  a  new 
play  is,  in  fact,  to  tell  the  town  that  you  cannot 
depend  upon  it ;  they  will  take  you  at  your  word 
without  difficulty.  The  death  of  this  play,  like 
that  of  the  "  Iron  Chest "  subsequently,  was 
caused  by  Dodd,  who  always  bestowed  the  whole 
tediousness  of  his  author  upon  the  audience, 
whereas  your  judicious  player  is  alive  to  all  the 
impressions  he  makes  in  the  house,  and  cuts  his 
matter  short  before  it  becomes  insupportable. 


MRS.   JORDAN  169 

The  epilogue  contrasted  the  beau  of  former  times 
with  his  slang  brother  of  the  present ;  and  Mrs. 
Jordan  raised  a  laugh  of  complaisance  to  herself 
in  the  latter  mistake  of  the  modern  lounger ;  for 
he  was  a  true  critic  in  calling  "  Macbeth "  an 

opera. 

"  'Zounds,  be  a  little  calmer ! 
Who's  that  — the  Jordan ?  — No, you  fool—  R.  Palmer." 

Although  the  more  immediate  subject  of  the 
work  leads  me  to  Drury  Lane  Theatre  in  prefer- 
ence, yet  I  willingly  enter  the  rival  house  to  com- 
memorate the  first  appearance  of  such  an  actor  as 
Munden.  He  came  from  Chester  avowedly  to 
take  the  business  of  Edwin,  though  he  more  re- 
sembled Shuter  in  the  broad,  voluptuous  style  of 
his  comedy.  On  the  2d  of  December,  1790,  he 
acted  Sir  Francis  Gripe  in  the  "Miser,"  and 
Jemmy  Jumps  in  the  "Farmer."  He  had  not 
the  sly,  personal  humour  of  Edwin,  who  never 
made  you  think  of  acting  at  all ;  Munden,  by  his 
evident  enjoyment  of  the  effect  he  produced,  and 
his  reiterated  efforts  to  make  that  effect  as  fervid 
as  he  wished  it,  showed  you  his  own  conviction 
that  he  had  elaborately  studied  all  that  he  was 
doing,  that  he  knew  his  conceptions  to  be  just, 
and  that  he  executed  them  correctly,  and,  there- 


170  MRS.   JORDAN 

fore,  demanded  his  reward  in  the  enjoyment  of 
the  audience.  He  was  a  slow  actor  for  the  most 
part,  and  not  the  most  accommodating  in  his  style 
to  his  brethren  on  the  stage  —  it  was  very  difficult 
to  confine  him  ;  he  came  up  close  to  the  lamps, 
and,  sideways,  edged  himself  from  one  end  of 
them  to  the  other;  painted  always  remarkably 
high  for  distant  effect,  and  made  his  first  and  last 
appeal  to  the  gods !  He  was,  like  Ned  Shuter, 
called,  familiarly,  Joe,  all  over  the  house;  and, 
more  than  any  actor  of  his  time,  devoted  himself 
not  only  to  business,  but  the  profits  of  it.  He 
accumulated  a  handsome  fortune  in  the  profession, 
and  has  a  robust  old  age  to  indulge  in  the  notions 
only  of  acting  again. 

The  benefit  play  of  an  actress  is  at  least  an 
opportunity  of  putting  the  town  in  possession  of 
her  own  opinion  of  herself,  and  is,  therefore,  com- 
monly seized  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  per- 
former's claims.  She  can  then  invade  the  line  of 
a  rival,  and  correct  the  perhaps  obstinate  preju- 
dice of  a  manager.  She  may  open  new  sources  of 
personal  admiration  —  she  may,  in  a  word,  make 
a  benefit,  the  ingredients  of  which  are  known  only 
to  herself. 

On  the  22d  of  March  Mrs.  Jordan  availed  her- 


MRS.   JORDAN  171 

self  of  this  seasonable  privilege,  and  revived,  as 
Woffington  did,  the  "Humourous  Lieutenant"  of 
Fletcher,  that  she  might  act  his  Celia,  who  now 
gave  name  to  the  play,  which  was  called  the 
"Greek  Slave,  or  the  School  for  Cowards."  The 
play  being  but  little  known,  I  think  it  may  be 
proper  to  notice  the  features  of  the  character  she 
acted.  Celia  is  beloved  by  the  king's  son,  Deme- 
trius, and  attached  to  him  on  the  score  of  his 
valiant  properties.  Uneasy  at  an  absence  from 
him  longer  than  usual,  she  arrives  at  court,  un- 
known to  the  attendants,  and  is  courteously  sa- 
luted by  Demetrius,  to  their  astonishment,  which 
makes  them  cluster  round  her  in  the  usual  manner, 
and  she  beautifully  exclaims  : 

"  How  these  flies  play  i'  the  sunshine." 

At  a  future  interview  between  them,  the  prince's 
honour  calling  him  to  the  field,  he  reluctantly 
quits  his  adored  mistress,  who  now  strengthens 
his  resolution,  and  there  occurs  a  fine  point  for 
the  actress  : 

"  Dem.     I  must  have  one  farewell  more. 
Cel.     No !  the  drums  beat —  Not  a  hand  more." 

She  is  tempted  to  become  the  king's  concubine, 
and  displays  her  virtue  and  her  wit  in  passages  of 


172  MRS.  JORDAN 

equal  point  and  beauty.  The  king,  himself  acting 
his  own  reverend  pander,  and  calling  himself  a 
soldier,  is  thus  saluted  by  her : 

"  Cel.     Oh,  wretched  man,  below  the  state  of  pity ! 
Canst  thou  forget  thou  wert  begot  in  honour  ? 
A  free  companion  for  a  king !  —  a  soldier  ! 
Whose  nobleness  dare  feel  no  want  but  enemies  ? 
Canst  thou  forget  this,  and  decline  so  wretchedly ! 
Feed  on  the  scum  of  sin  ?  —  Fling  thy  sword  from  thee  ? 
Dishonour  to  the  noble  name  that  nurs'd  thee." 

The  monarch  now  reveals  himself  in  one  line  of 
uncommon  expression : 
"  Ant.     Why,  then,  I  am  a  king,  and  mine  own  speaker." 

Mark  the  truly  dramatic  reply  of  Celia,  and 
estimate  its  value  to  such  an  actress : 

"  Cel.     And  I,  as  free  as  you,  mine  own  disposer. 
There,  take  your  jewels ;  let  'em  give  them  lustres 
That  have  dark  lives  and  souls ;  wear  them  yourself,  sir." 

After  the  villainy  of  ordering  a  potion  to  be 
given  to  her,  the  royal  seducer  sees  her,  like  Ham- 
let, come  in  reading,  and,  like  Polonius,  he  draws 
its  application  upon  himself  : 

"  Cel.     I'm  reading,  sir,  of  a  short  treatise  here, 
That's  called  the  Vanity  of  Lust :  has  your  Grace  seen  it? 
He  says  here  that  an  old  man's  loose  desire 
Is  like  the  glow-worm's  light  the  apes  so  wonder'd  at; 


MRS.   JORDAN  173 

Which  when  they  gather'd  sticks  and  laid  upon't, 
And  blew  and  blew,  turn'd  tail,  and  went  out  presently. 
And,  in  another  place,  he  calls  their  loves 
Faint  smells  of  dying  flowers,  carrying  no  comforts." 

She  proceeds  to  complete  her  argument,  and 
makes  a  convert  of  her  old  admirer.  Demetrius 
not  doing  justice  to  her  virtues,  but  believing  that 
she  has  yielded  to  temptation,  she  quarrels  with 
him,  and  is  only  at  length  reconciled  to  the  man 
she  loves,  when  she  is  discovered  to  have  rank  as 
well  as  virtue  to  make  her  his  equal. 

There  was  something  about  Mrs.  Jordan  exceed- 
ingly romantic,  and  that  made  her  find  what  was 
congenial  in  the  princely  connection  of  Celia.  She 
loved  to  indulge  this  tendency  of  her  mind,  and 
was  fond  of  the  splendour  of  dress,  though  it 
added  nothing  to  her  personal  attraction.  She 
was  the  relaxation  of  dignity  rather  than  state  ; 
and,  whatever  she  might  think,  wore  the  trappings 
of  tragedy  without  any  of  their  usual  effect  upon 
the  senses. 

The  real  name  of  the  character  called  Celia,  in 
the  present  play,  is  printed  by  the  editors,  Evanthe 
and  Enanthe,  —  the  first,  having  a  decided  mean- 
ing,1 I  should  prefer;  and  it  is  sufficiently  discrim- 

—  Flourishing  in  beauty. 


174  MRS.  JORDAN 

inated  from  the  same  poet's  Evadne,  the  wife  of 
Amintor,  in  the  "  Maid's  Tragedy." 

Seward  says,  admirably  well,  upon  such  plays  as 
the  present :  "  We  could  almost  wish  the  readers 
to  drop  the  expectation  of  the  events,  to  attend 
with  more  care  to  the  beauty  and  energy  of  the 
sentiments,  diction,  passions,  and  characters." 
And,  I  may  add,  whatever  change  may  take  place 
in  the  manners  of  different  times,  and  the  taste  of 
expression,  yet,  if  our  plays  are  to  boast  of  poetry 
at  all,  our  style  must  settle  in  the  just  medium  of 
Fletcher.  The  divinity  of  Shakespeare,  if  it  could 
be  approached,  cannot  be  sustained,  and  had  bet- 
ter, therefore,  remain  unattempted  by  his  country- 
men, who,  by  aping  his  grandiloquence,  will  easily 
become  turgid,  but  never  sublime. 

Mrs.  Jordan,  after  the  play,  spoke  a  very  alarm- 
ing epilogue,  written  purposely  for  her  by  Harry 
Bunbury.  But  the  reader  will  judge  for  himself 
as  to  the  startling  expressions ;  it  was  full  of  polit- 
ical allusions. 

44  How  strange  !  methinks  I  hear  a  critic  say ; 
What,  she,  the  serious  heroine  of  a  play ! 
The  manager  his  want  of  sense  evinces, 
To  pitch  on  hoydens  for  the  love  of  princes ! 
To  trick  out  chambermaids  in  awkward  pomp  — 
Horrid  !  to  make  a  princess  of  a  Romp. 


MRS.  JORDAN  175 

"  «  Depend  upon't,'  replies  indulgent  John, 

'  Some  d d  good-natur'd  friend  has  set  her  on.' 

«  Poh,'  says  old  Surly,  '  I  shall  now  expect 

To  see  Jack  Pudding  treated  with  respect ; 

Cobblers  in  curricles  alarm  the  Strand, 

Or  my  Lord  Chancellor  drive  six  in  hand.' 

"  But  I've  a  precedent  —  can  quote  the  book  — 
Czar  Peter  made  an  empress  of  a  cook. 
There  —  now  you're  dumb,  sir, —  nothing  left  to  say  ;  \ 
Why,  changing  is  the  fashion  of  the  day.  — 
Far  wilder  changes  Paris  can  display.  ) 

There  Monsieur  Bowkit  leaves  —  ha !  ha !  —  the  dance, 
To  read  Ma'mselle  a  lecture  on  finance. 
The  nation's  debts  —  each  hairdresser  can  state  'em, 
And  Friz  in  ways  and  means  with  hard  pomatum : 
Beaux  lay  down  lap-dogs  to  take  up  the  pen, 
And  patriot  misses  urge  the  rights  of  men  : 
Squat  o'er  their  coals,  sage  fish-women  debate, 
Dealing  at  once  in  politics  and  skate ; 
And  shrewdly  mixing  to  each  taste  the  dish, 
With  fresh  and  stale  —  philosophy  and  fish. 

"  If  such  odd  changes  you  can  gravely  see, 
Why  not  allow  a  transient  change  in  me  ? 
The  charms  that  mirth  despotic  makes  to-night, 
In  grief  may  shine  more  eminently  bright  — 
More  killing  still  the  gaudy  miss  be  seen, 
Black  as  a  crow  —  all  love  and  bombasin. 

"  Say,  my  fair  friends,  what  change  has  more  success 
In  catching  lovers,  than  a  change  of  dress  ? 


1 76  MRS.  JORDAN 

Caps,  hats,  and  bonnets,  Fashion's  pack  of  hounds, 
Each  in  its  turn  the  trembling  wretch  surrounds; 
One  day  you  wound  him  with  a  civic  crown; 
Another  —  with  a  tucker  knock  him  down: 
In  cruel  pink  to-night  your  game  pursue, 
To-morrow  pommel  him  in  black  and  blue. 
Now  in  a  turque  —  now  en  chemise  assail  him  ; 
Till  the  poor  devil  flounders,  —  and  you  nail  him. 

"  If  I  my  frock  have  chang'd  with  some  success, 
And  gain'd  admirers  in  this  regal  dress ; 
If  faithful  Celia  should  your  favour  prove ; 
If  pleas'd  you  listen  to  her  constant  love, — 
If  tir'd  with  laugh,  a  sigh  of  pity  ease  you ; 
I'll  be  a  very  weathercock  to  please  you ;  — 
The  grave,  the  gay,  alternately  pursue, 
Fix'd  but  in  this  —  my  gratitude  to  you." 

Methinks  I  hear  some  female  reader  now  ex- 
claim :  "  What,  sir,  and  did  your  admired  heroine 
(for  all  authors  admire  their  heroines,  at  least  for 
a  time)  —  What !  and  did  Mr.  Bunbury  write,  and 
Mrs.  Jordan  speak  such  a  line  as  this  in  the  face 
of  the  public  ? 

"  To  pitch  on  hoydens  for  the  love  of  princes ! " 
A  thing  so  personal,  so  ready  of  application,  and 
so  sure  of  being  made  by  either  man  or  woman 
who  lived  within  the  sound  of  rumour.  My  an- 
swer must  be :  "  Pray,  madam,  pay  a  little  regard 
to  chronology,  and  suspect  anything  rather  than 


MRS.   JORDAN  177 

a  want  of  good  taste  in  the  Jordan.  I  can  assure 
you,  on  my  personal  knowledge,  that  I  have  no 
such  instances  to  record ;  and  that  you  will  be 
convinced  of  my  sincerity  if  you  will  honour  me 
with  your  company  into  Yorkshire  the  very  ensu- 
ing summer.  You  will  see,  too,  her  attendant  on 
that  occasion,  and  know  a  great  deal  of  stage 
matters  two  hundred  miles  from  London.  For 
the  '  love  of  princes '  you  must  wait  awhile,  and 
you  will  not  be  robbed  of  your  ingenious  applica- 
tion." Her  friend,  Harry  Bunbury,  had  very  faith- 
fully attended  as  her  laureate  this  year ;  for  when 
she  finished  her  favourite  engagement  at  Rich- 
mond, a  neighbourhood  dear  to  her  for  a  great 
portion  of  her  life,  he  again  exerted  his  sportive 
muse  in  a  farewell,  which  recapitulated  all  her 
achievements,  and  expressed  with  much  effect  the 
reasonable  acknowledgments  of  the  kindness  she 
had  received. 

The  incessant  application  to  the  duties  of  a 
profession,  which  is  considered  mere  play  by  those 
who  never  tried  it,  and  its  late  hours  and  alterna- 
tions of  warm  and  chilling  atmosphere,  had  at 
length  made  Mrs.  Jordan  seriously  ill ;  she  spat 
blood  very  frequently,  and  seemed  in  a  progressive 
state  of  exhaustion,  that  might  terminate  in  de- 


1 78  MRS.  JORDAN 

cline,  if  she  did  not  spare  herself  all  unnecessary 
fatigue.  Mrs.  Jordan  had  not  been  at  York  for 
some  years,  and  her  friend  Wilkinson  had  engaged 
her  on  the  same  terms  as  he  had  given  to  Mrs. 
Siddons  and  to  Miss  Farren.  As  she  played  on 
shares,  her  interest  and  the  manager's  were  the 
same.  She  was  to  have  a  clear  benefit  on  the 
Saturday  in  the  assize  week,  and  during  that  fol- 
lowing, in  which  the  musical  festival  occurred,  she 
was  to  act  one  night  conditionally,  to  be  fixed 
by  the  manager.  In  the  usual  important  style, 
he  announced  her  for  the  six  nights  in  the  sum- 
mer assize  week,  and  advertised  her  in  advance  to 
commence  her  course  with  the  "Country  Girl," 
and  Nell  in  the  "  Devil  to  Pay."  When  he  arrived 
at  York,  he  found  Mrs.  Jordan  there,  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Ford  (afterward  Sir  Richard),  and  she 
refused  Nell,  because  after  Miss  Peggy,  another 
rather  active  character,  with  a  song  always  encored 
at  the  end  of  it,  it  was  really  more  than  she  could 
undertake,  the  following  days  considered.  It  is 
always  dangerous  to  check  a  country  manager  in 
the  career  of  his  management  —  accordingly,  dis- 
appointed of  the  magical  Nell  and  her  song,  the 
ladies  of  York  did  not  think  the  "  Country  Girl " 
sufficiently  attractive  ;  the  house  was  not  crowded, 


MRS.  JORDAN  179 

and  there  was  no  half-price,  though  Fawcett  was 
admitted  to  be  strong  as  Gregory  in  the  "Mock 
Doctor."  The  miserable  affectation  of  thinking 
the  "  Country  Girl "  too  vulgar  for  the  refined 
taste  of  York,  made  Jordan  literally  lose  her  tem- 
per ;  and  she  told  the  manager  that,  if  the  audi- 
ence had  possessed  "  or  soul  or  sense,"  she  would 
have  introduced  a  song.  Tate  begged  that  she 
would  do  so  still  to  oblige  him,  and  she  consented. 
It  was  one  written  by  a  most  amiable  and  even 
learned  young  lady,  a  daughter  of  Ryder,  the 
comedian.  The  effect  produced  was  quite  rap- 
turous, —  the  whole  theatre  was  one  voice  and  one 
will  on  the  occasion  (if  the  soul  or  sense  might  be 
questioned),  and  they  encored  the  singer  most 
alarmingly ;  but  their  applause  did  not  outlive  the 
song.  Peggy  was  resigned  to  the  ladies  of  Lon- 
don ;  and  their  preference  of  her  was  unshaken 
to  the  last.  As  the  audience  became  frigid,  the 
Jordan  grew  sullen.  On  the  day  following  she 
had  recruited  from  her  journey,  and  acted  Miss 
Hoyden  in  the  "  Trip  to  Scarborough,"  which  was 
received  brilliantly,  and  the  adorable  Nell.  The 
audience  did  her  full  justice,  and  she  was  in  the 
happiest  vein,  and  supped  with  her  jovial  manager. 
The  next  performance  was  the  "Belle's  Strata- 


i8o  MRS.   JORDAN 

gem,"  with  the  "  Spoil'd  Child."  Here  again  the 
ladies  played  the  critic,  and  decided  that  fashiona- 
ble existence  was  quite  out  of  her  line,  and  the 
manager  confesses  that  the  receipt  was  shameful 
to  a  degree  —  the  Pickle  was  admitted  to  be  ex- 
cellent. On  the  Thursday  she  performed  Rosa- 
lind ;  here  again  her  critics  preferred  the  delicate 
languor  of  Mrs.  Esten,  and  our  child  of  humour 
could  not  smother  her  contempt  for  them.  In 
her  anger,  she  spared  neither  performers  nor  spec- 
tators ;  and  what  she  had  said  of  the  latter  was, 
with  industrious  malignity,  circulated  through  the 
city ;  so  that  on  the  Friday,  when  she  came  on  in 
Sylvia,  in  the  "Recruiting  Officer,"  she  showed 
a  determination  to  walk  through  the  part,  and  the 
audience  became  as  indifferent  as  herself.  The 
receipt  of  the  night  was  but  twenty-five  pounds. 
The  Saturday  was  her  own  night,  —  Hypolita  and 
Miss  Hoyden.  Her  house  was  not  what  she  ex- 
pected, and  she  was  here  deficient  in  the  respect 
of  policy ;  besides,  the  good  will  of  those  who 
came  was  unquestionable,  and  should  have  been 
acknowledged  ;  they  should  not  have  been  slighted 
for  the  sake  of  others  who  chose  to  stay  away. 
As  early  as  the  second  act  of  the  play,  she  sent 
the  manager  word  that  she  would  not  play  on 


MRS.  JORDAN  181 

the  York  stage  again ;  though  he  had  distributed 
bills  for  her  performing  on  Monday,  the  I5th  of 
August,  Lady  Bell  in  "Know  Your  Own  Mind," 
and  Little  Pickle.  So  that  we  see  Tate  was  desir- 
ous to  enlarge  the  engagement,  though  so  little 
satisfied  with  the  houses ;  but  as  the  reader  will 
remember,  the  manager  had  the  appointment  still 
of  one  night  in  the  festival  week,  whether  she 
enlarged  her  term  with  him  or  not,  and  he  had 
fixed  this  for  the  Wednesday  following.  Mr. 
Ford  and  she  were  to  dine  with  Wilkinson  on  the 
Sunday.  On  the  Saturday  night,  Ford  writes  an 
excuse  as  to  the  dinner ;  a  decline  of  the  engage- 
ment to  act  further  at  York ;  but  a  readiness  as 
to  the  festival  night,  on  next  Wednesday,  or  any 
other  he  might  appoint.  "  Mrs.  Ford,  feeling  her- 
self unwell,  was  desirous  of  passing  a  day  or  two 
in  the  country."  In  this  dilemma,  giving  up  the 
Jordan  as  to  further  service,  Tate  bethought  him- 
self of  my  ever-regretted  Mr.  Kemble,  who,  in  the 
mayoralty  of  his  friend  Wilson,  was  reposing  him- 
self very  tranquilly  at  the  Mansion  House,  and 
"  letting  the  world  slide  "  in  his  easy  indifference. 
The  truth  was,  he  ought,  for  his  own  interest,  to 
have  been  at  Liverpool ;  but  he  made  his  health 
the  plea  for  stopping  that  call  upon  him,  and  hon- 


1 82  MRS.   JORDAN 

cured  his  friend's  mayoralty  by  partaking  his 
hospitalities  until  the  time  arrived  for  joining  his 
brother  Stephen  at  Newcastle,  and  giving  him  a 
lift  in  his  season.  Late  as  it  was,  Tate  posted  to 
the  Mansion  House,  and  found  Kemble  preparing 
for  bed  ;  but  a  matter  of  business  led  him  to  order 
a  bottle  for  his  old  manager,  and  they  talked  away 
the  little  hours,  though  nothing  was  then  con- 
cluded. However,  on  the  Sunday,  in  pursuance 
of  the  invitation  now  made  him  to  act  in  York,  he 
called  upon  Mrs.  Jordan,  and,  in  fact,  settled  with 
her  that  she  should  take  his  place  with  his  brother 
Stephen  at  Newcastle  in  the  assize  week,  on  the 
22d  of  August,  and  he  would  occupy  hers  at  York 
with  Wilkinson.  Mr.  Kemble  brought  the  mayor 
along  with  him,  and  proposed  the  terms  on  which 
alone  he  would  act :  first,  that  if  Mrs.  Jordan 
acted  on  the  Wednesday  night,  he  would  not  act 
at  all ;  he  would  supply  her  place  then  also,  and 
have  the  thirty  guineas  that  she  was  to  receive  if 
she  played.  Wilkinson  told  him  it  was  pounds, 
not  guineas,  that  he  gave,  as  Mrs.  Siddons  had  so 
been  paid,  and  Miss  Farren  also.  Here  the  mayor 
was  against  him ;  he  would  have  it  guineas,  and 
he  carried  that  point.  Now  then  the  manager  had 
only  to  settle  the  Wednesday  night  with  Mrs. 


MRS.  JORDAN  183 

Jordan,  and  accordingly  his  messenger  found  her 
at  Castle  Howard,  in  the  right  humour  to  pay  him 
thirty  pounds  rather  than  even  act  on  the  single 
night,  which  he  now  fixed  for  Tuesday  (not 
Wednesday),  the  i6th  of  August.  The  answer 
was  brief,  and  what  the  manager  wished.  The 
signature  causes  me  to  preserve  it. 

"  SIR  :  —  I  agree  with  pleasure  to  your  proposal 
of  giving  you  thirty  pounds  rather  than  ever  per- 
form in  York.  I  shall  return  to-morrow  and  settle 
the  balance  of  the  account.  I  am,  sir, 

"  Your  obliged,  humble  Servant, 

"  D.  FORD." 

On  receiving  this  answer,  all  things  seemed  to 
be  adjusted.  Giving  up  Monday  night,  he  put  up, 
with  his  full  consent,  Mr.  Kemble  for  Othello  on 
the  Tuesday,  and  the  name  of  Kemble,  in  York, 
always  popular  in  that  city,  went  up  in  the  same 
proportion  as  that  of  the  Jordan  went  down.  That 
lady  arrived  on  the  Monday  noon,  and  most  hon- 
ourably paid  her  forfeit  of  thirty  pounds.  It  was 
not  a  pleasant  thing,  but  under  the  circumstances 
a  right  one  —  her  fame,  as  an  actress,  demanded 
the  sacrifice  —  to  use  her  own  phrase,  it  was 
"  death  to  play  on  to  such  a  milk  and  water  and 


1 84  MRS.   JORDAN 

spiritless  audience."  But,  however  successfully 
the  day  commenced  for  Tate,  it  was  not  over,  — 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kemble  dined  with  him.  To  his 
utter  dismay,  Kemble  said,  as  soon  as  they  were 
left  alone,  that,  "  without  any  impeachment  of 
their  friendship,  as  he  trusted,  he  was  bound  to 
tell  him  that  he  had  reflected  on  the  engagement 
he  had  made,  which  his  understanding  told  him 
was  a  very  foolish  one,  and  that  he  would  act  on 
shares  on  the  Tuesday,  or  not  play  at  all ;  for 
unless  he  got  £160  in  the  week,  it  was  not  worth 
his  while  to  play  there."  The  parties  separated 
equally  obstinate,  and  Kemble  went  to  the  music- 
rooms,  which  were,  on  that  night,  assailed  by  the 
most  dreadful  hurricane,  attended  by  vivid  flashes 
of  lightning ;  and  the  sublime  chorus  from  Handel, 
"  He  gave  them  hailstones  for  rain,"  was  awfully 
verified  from  without.  I  never  knew  a  man  so 
insensible  to  alarms  of  any  kind  as  Kemble,  —  he 
pursued  a  purpose,  or  a  train  of  thought,  calmly, 
in  situations  where  other  men  are  forced  from 
their  poise,  and  now,  upon  being  told,  at  intervals, 
by  the  people  about  him,  how  happy  they  were 
that  he  was  to  act  to-morrow,  he  very  coolly 
replied  that  "he  did  not  think  he  should  have 
that  pleasure."  The  heat  in  the  room  was  exces- 


MRS.   JORDAN  185 

sive ;  the  whole  neighbourhood  seemed  in  flames ; 
Mara,  Kelly,  Crouch,  and  Harrison  went  through 
the  entertainments,  and  the  ladies  sat  to  hear  them 
to  the  end ;  but  it  was  a  night  of  unexampled 
terror.  However,  as  Kemble  would  have  said, 
such  casualties  had  nothing  to  do  with  his  bargain, 
in  a  thing  of  which  nature  he  resembled  his  own 
Hotspur,  so  as  to  "  cavil  on  the  ninth  part  of  a 
hair." 

Tuesday  morning  came,  says  Tate,  the  bills 
were  printed,  the  rehearsal  called,  the  performers 
waiting,  and  no  Mr.  Kemble.  At  length  the  mayor 
became  uneasy,  poor  Mrs.  Kemble  was  in  tears, 
"  Kemble  was  fast  asleep,  and  had  given  orders 
not  to  disturb  him."  At  length  he  wrote  a  line  to 
express  his  surprise  to  find  his  name  in  the  bills, 
and  to  repeat  that  he  certainly  would  not  act 
unless  the  manager  was  kind  enough  to  rectify  the 
mistake  he  had  made.  That  excellent  man,  Mr. 
Wilson,  at  last  hit  upon  a  medium  between  the 
contending  parties,  and  about  one  o'clock  was 
authorised  to  write  the  two  lines  following  : 

"  Mr.  Kemble  agrees. 

«T.  WILSON. 

"  He  will  be  ready  to  rehearse  at  two  o'clock." 


1 86  MRS.   JORDAN 

He  went  to  the  theatre,  at  the  time,  in  perfect 
good  humour,  and  as  if  nothing  discordant  had 
happened ;  perhaps  remembered  Mrs.  Jordan's 
spleen,  for  he  said  "the  audience  should  see  that 
he  would  take  pains,  whether  the  applause  was 
profuse  or  not."  He  had  a  very  crowded  house, 
and  Mrs.  Jordan  herself  among  his  audience,  lis- 
tening to  the  applause,  which  was  not  the  less 
bountiful  on  account  of  the  displeasure  she  had 
excited.  On  the  Wednesday  she  set  off  on  the 
Newcastle  expedition,  where  she  met  with  fresh 
mortifications,  leaving  Kemble  to  draw  that  night 
,£109  ic>r.  6d.  to  his  Hamlet,  the  part  in  which 
he  was  most  distinguished,  and,  indeed,  unap- 
proached.  His  Macbeth,  on  the  Thursday,  was 
also  greatly  admired,  —  Lord  Hastings,  Petruchio, 
and  Collins's  Ode  bringing  but  a  thin  house,  on 
account  of  the  attraction  at  the  Assembly  Rooms 
on  the  Friday ;  the  actor  was  weak,  in  spite  of  his 
system,  —  however,  on  the  Saturday,  the  weary 
sun  (for  he  must  have  been  weary  this  week)  made 
a  brilliant  set  in  Zanga,  and  his  share  of  the  receipt 
of  the  week,  taken  at  the  door,  was  close  upon 
,£150  —  but  presents  he  unquestionably  had. 

As  to  poor  Mrs.  Jordan,  she  had  never  seen 
such  an  assize  week.  The  arrangement  with  her 


MRS.   JORDAN  187 

manager,  Mr.  Kemble,  had  left  the  advantage 
entirely  on  his  side.  As  was  usual  with  such 
stars,  she  had  taken  the  management  upon  herself 
at  Newcastle,  made  the  proper  communications  to 
the  newspapers,  and  announced  her  "Country 
Girl"  and  "Nell"  for  Monday,  the  22d  of  Au- 
gust. Stephen  Kemble' s  company  was  at  Lan- 
caster, and  well  enough  prepared  for  his  brother's 
exhibition ;  but  the  change  which  was  announced 
found  them  utterly  unprovided  for  their  female 
general,  and  they,  therefore,  took  the  resolution 
not  to  march  to  Newcastle  at  all.  The  com- 
mander-in-chief,  without  an  army,  talked  of  bring- 
ing her  action,  and  "  doing  she  knew  not  what ; " 
but  the  best  thing  she  now  could  do  was  to  think 
steadily  of  home,  and  of  the  steadiest  of  all  her 
friends,  —  a  London  audience.  She  had,  in  fact, 
lost  her  summer,  and  was  not  entirely  without 
blame  for  losing  her  temper  where  it  was  her 
interest  to  preserve  it. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Doctor  Woolcot  Does  Justice  to  Mrs.  Jordan, —  The  DroryLane 
Company  Remove  to  the  Opera  House  —  The  Opening 
Laugh  at  Their  Difficulties  —  Additional  Prices  Carried  — 
Fawcett's  Arrival  in  London  with  His  Wife  —  Both  Engaged 
by  Mr.  Harris  —  Mrs.  Jordan  and  Mr.  Kemble  —  The  Press 
Accuses  the  Actress  of  Deserting  Her  Duty  —  Proof  to  the 
Contrary  —  The  Declared  Admiration  of  a  Royal  Duke  — 
Mrs.  Jordan's  Family  —  Mr.  Ford  Made  Pleas  for  Attacking 
Her  —  She  Appeals  to  the  Public  by  Letter  —  Finding  that 
She  Was,  Notwithstanding,  Still  Persecuted,  She  Addresses 
the  Audience  in  Person,  and  Remains  Absolute  Mistress  of 
the  Field  —  "  Cymon  "  Revived  with  Great  Splendour  —  The 
Beauty  of  the  Cast  —  Kelly's  Hospitality  and  His  Guests  — 
The  "  Village  Coquette,"  for  Mrs.  Jordan's  Night  —  Richard- 
son's "Fugitive"  Acted  by  Her  —  Miss  Herbert,  in  That 
Comedy,  Miss  Farren  —  Mrs.  Sheridan  Dies,  Commemorated 
by  Genius — Her  Epitaph  —  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  What  He 
Thought  and  Said  of  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Regret  That  She  Never 
Sat  to  Him  —  Brings  Out  a  Play  Called  "  Anna,"  against 
the  Opinion  of  Kemble  —  Fate  of  Her  Novelty  —  Of  Mrs. 
Siddons's  —  Of  Miss  Farren's  —  Mrs.  Jordan  in  Lady  Rest- 
less —  Cumberland's  "  Armourer." 

shall  treat  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Jordan 
as  we  always  did  her  person ;  when  she 
had  at  all  suffered,  as  on  the  late  occa- 
sion, we  were  happy  to  restore  the  equilibrium 
of  her  mind  by  telling  her  anything  of  a  soothing 

1 88 


MRS.   JORDAN  189 

and  respectful  nature.  The  late  Doctor  Woolcot 
greatly  admired  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  though  he  will- 
ingly admitted  the  excellence  of  Mrs.  Clive,  yet 
thought  that  the  following  inscription  to  her,  in  an 
obscure  part  of  her  garden,  merited  some  illustra- 
tion, in  justice  to  the  modern  Thalia.  Horace 
Walpole's  point  is  thus  conveyed : 

"  Here  liv'd  the  laughter-loving  dame  — 
A  matchless  actress,  Clive  her  name ; 
The  Comic  Muse  with  her  retir'd, 
And  shed  a  tear  when  she  expir'd." 

Peter  Pindar  replies  to  the  Horace  of  Straw- 
berry Hill,  not  Rome : 

"  Truth  and  thy  trumpet  seem  not  to  agree ; 
Know  Comedy  is  hearty  —  all  alive  — 
The  sprightly  lass  no  more  expir'd  with  Clive 
Than  Dame  Humility  will  die  with  thee." 

The  venerable  theatre  of  Garrick  having  been 
condemned  to  demolition,  and  the  proprietors  ex- 
tending their  views  to  some  lofty  speculation 
which  was  to  leave  them  no  competitors  among 
the  intelligent  classes,  Mr.  Holland  prepared  the 
design  of  a  magnificent  pavilion  for  their  approba- 
tion ;  and  although  it  never  was  entirely  completed, 
enough  was  done  to  excite  the  horror  of  the  fanati- 


19°  MRS.   JORDAN 

cal  part  of  the  community.  Burke's  hatred  of  Mr. 
Sheridan  made  him  prompt  them  with  the  notion 
that  it  emulated  the  temples  of  religion.  But,  for 
the  present,  we  have  only  ruins  before  us. 

The  Drury  Lane  company,  in  the  season  of 
1791-92,  removed  to  the  Opera  House  on  the 
22d  of  September,  and  they  carried  a  slight  in- 
crease of  the  prices  of  admission,  which  now  be- 
came six  shillings  to  the  boxes,  and  three  shillings 
and  sixpence  to  the  pit.  Indeed,  the  splendid 
situation  in  which  they  placed  their  friends  seemed 
to  call  for  a  small  advance  with  propriety.  Of  all 
things  that  could  be  named,  an  Italian  opera 
house  was  least  suited  to  English  play  and  farce, 
demanding  a  constant  succession  of  scenes  called 
flats,  run  on  suddenly  for  the  frequent  changes 
of  place,  and  the  small-sized  scenes  of  Old 
Drury  were,  with  much  difficulty,  applied  to  the 
grand  void  devoted  to  the  groups  of  the  French 
ballet. 

Cobb,  though  as  a  comic  writer  he  could  not 
rank  with  Sheridan,  had  now  proved  himself  a 
very  valuable  ally  to  the  theatre,  for  the  "  Haunted 
Tower "  had  brought  very  excellent  houses ;  he 
wrote  a  prelude  for  the  opening  of  the  season, 
which  excited  risibility  as  soon  as  it  was  fairly 


MRS.   JORDAN  191 

heard,  which  it  was  not  on  the  first  night.  The 
jokes  are  somewhat  a  little  forced,  but  they  are 
ingenious  always,  and  often  neat.  The  transport 
of  the  scenery  from  poor  Old  Drury  could  not 
escape  him,  —  the  ocean  was  washed  away  by  a 
shower  of  rain,  and  the  clouds  were  obliged  to 
be  carried  under  an  umbrella.  The  triumphal  car 
of  Alexander  was  shattered  to  pieces  by  a  hackney- 
coach,  at  the  corner  of  St.  Martin's  Lane,  and  the 
coachman  persisted  that  he  was  on  his  right  side 
of  the  way,  and  that  Alexander,  if  he  pleased, 
might  take  his  number.  Among  the  actors,  some 
changes  are  in  operation,  —  Parsons  now  wants  to 
play  tragedy,  that  he  may  be  heard,  and  Wewitzer, 
a  critical  maitre  de  ballet,  who  chatters  about  De- 
mosthenes, and  says  that  action  is  all,  undertakes 
to  reform  that  of  Hamlet,  for  instance,  altogether. 
He  makes  Parsons  address  the  Ghost,  a  circum- 
stance of  itself  enough  to  make  any  man  give  up 
the  ghost  with  laughter,  and  corrects  the  start  of 
astonishment  and  terror  as  idle  and  indecorous, 
since  he  came  to  the  platform  expecting  to  see 
it,  and  knew  the  royal  shade  to  be  his  father.  He 
decides,  therefore,  upon  the  propriety  of  bowing 
with  filial  reverence  and  love,  which  we  may  sup- 
pose the  paternal  phantom  to  return  with  more 


192  MRS.  JORDAN 

solemnity,  and  the  affecting  grace  of  his  time  of 
life. 

Mrs.  Jordan's  brother,  Bland,  came  on  as  an 
opera  singer,  and  maintained  the  rights  of  the 
Italian  stage.  He  at  length  withdrew  with  the 
critic  before  mentioned,  declaring  that  dancing 
and  the  opera  should  always  go  together  in  con- 
tempt of  sense  and  nature.  This,  however  it 
might  suit  John  Bull,  was  outrageous  every  way, 
and  little  becoming  the  houseless,  who  had  there 
found  a  home,  it  resembled  the  gratitude  of  Drury 
Lane  itself,  whose  graceless  sons  no  sooner  get 
shelter  in  their  scrapes,  than  they  give  the  dwell- 
ing a  bad  character. 

After  a  very  spirited  performance  of  the 
"  Haunted  Tower,"  Mrs.  Jordan's  Beatrice  in  the 
"  Panel "  put  the  audience  in  high  good  humour. 
She  ran  over  the  ground  easily,  and  without  seem- 
ing annoyed  by  it,  but  it  made  the  exits  and  en- 
trances comparatively  tardy  and  flat  —  some  of 
the  actors  considered  it  as  a  death-blow;  but  to 
what  will  not  use  at  length  reconcile  us  ?  How- 
ever, we  were  drawn  by  that  stage  into  a  fondness 
for  spectacle,  which  we  could  gratify  sooner  than  a 
demand  for  sense,  and  at  length  the  people  them- 
selves preferred  the  great  theatre  to  the  little  one. 


MRS.   JORDAN  193 

As  I  attended  the  first  appearance  of  Mr. 
Munden  before  a  London  audience,  so  I  cannot 
pay  a  less  compliment  to  a  gentleman  who  was 
in  the  York  company  with  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  who, 
like  Munden,  came  to  supply  the  loss  of  Edwin ; 
I  mean  Mr.  John  Fawcett,  who  was  something 
nearer  to  Edwin,  but,  as  well  as  his  competitor, 
was  an  actor  of  great  and  original  powers.  If, 
however,  the  supplying  Edwin  had  been  put  up 
as  the  stage  prize  to  be  disputed,  I  think  the  two 
great  competitors  were  Fawcett  and  Bannister. 
As  to  the  parts  really  played  by  Ed  win,  Bannister, 
I  believe,  acted  more  of  them,  and,  perhaps,  was 
nearer  to  him ;  but  the  Pangloss  of  Fawcett  was 
quite  equal  to  anything  ever  done  by  that  great 
comedian,  who  would  have  desired  to  live  again, 
purely  to  act  such  a  superior  Lingo.  Mr.  Fawcett 
made  the  bow,  which  commenced  a  series  of  near 
forty  years  at  the  same  theatre,  on  the  22d  Sep- 
tember, 1791,  in  the  part  of  Caleb  in  "  He  Would 
Be  a  Soldier."  He  was  greatly  applauded,  and 
his  wife,  of  whose  merits  I  have  already  spoken, 
appeared  on  the  3d  of  October  following,  in  the 
part  of  Nottingham  in  the  "  Earl  of  Essex."  As 
her  husband  in  tragedy  did  not  get  beyond  Kent 
in  "King  Lear,"  so  his  wife  seemed  to  settle 


194  MRS.   JORDAN 

about  Emilia  in  "Othello,"  a  part  in  which  she 
was  loudly  applauded.  She  was  a  good,  because 
a  sensible  second  in  tragedy ;  but  I  ought  to 
explain  that  I  mean  no  more  than  second  rate 
by  the  term,  supposing  characters  to  rank  accord- 
ing to  their  splendour  or  impression,  and  I  explain 
further  by  saying  that  Hermione  and  Andromache, 
Zara  and  Almeria,  Shore  and  Alicia,  are  equally 
first-rate  characters,  and  require  equal  talent  in 
the  actress,  who  has  usually  performed  either 
alternately,  when  the  theatre  contained  a  rival. 
Mrs.  Crawford,  Mrs.  Yates,  and  Miss  Younge 
were  rivals  to  each  other.  In  everything  fortu- 
nate, Mrs.  Siddons  never  had  a  rival  on  the  same 
stage  with  her,  so  that  the  attention  to  her  was 
undivided,  and  her  excellence  undisputed. 

I  am  apt  to  think  that  the  unfortunate  trip  to 
Newcastle  might  disturb  in  some  measure  the  har- 
mony between  Mrs.  Jordan  and  Mr.  Kemble.  He 
certainly  used  to  complain  occasionally  of  that 
lady ;  and  what  proceeds  from  a  manager  soon 
finds  its  way  into  the  public  journals.  However, 
as  to  her  public  duty,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find 
a  considerable  actress  in  either  theatre  who  had 
laboured  so  very  assiduously  as  herself.  She  had 
played  twenty-four  nights  in  two  months,  and  very 


MRS.   JORDAN  195 

frequently  two  parts  in  the  same  night ;  and  when 
the  management  had  no  other  attraction,  she  was 
put  up  three  nights  together  without  novelty  to 
help  her.  If  in  such  a  course  of  duty  indisposi- 
tion sometimes  caused  an  apology  to  be  made, 
there  was  obviously  a  reasonable  ground  for  it, 
without  resorting  to  either  caprice  or  her  private 
arrangements,  with  which  the  public  amusement 
was  by  no  means  connected.  In  spite  of  the 
above  matter  of  fact,  it  was  now  insinuated  that 
she  was  able  to  play,  if  she  chose ;  and  another 
position  equally  kind,  that,  not  being  absolutely 
confined  to  her  room,  if  she  ventured  abroad  at 
all,  she  ought  to  act  at  night,  however  languid  she 
might  be,  and  not  considering  that,  though  it 
was  necessary  to  take  the  air,  it  was  not  advisable 
to  take  the  night  air,  after  great  exertion  in 
a  weak  state.  But  a  circumstance  had  occurred 
which  was  now  generally  known ;  I  mean  the  de- 
clared admiration  of  a  royal  duke  for  this  delight- 
ful actress,  and  a  wish  for  her  society  permanently, 
on  such  terms  as  his  peculiar  situation  alone  per- 
mitted. He  invaded  no  man's  absolute  rights  — 
he  did  not  descend  to  corrupt  or  debase.  Not 
considering  himself  entirely  a  creature  of  the 
state,  he  had  presumed  to  avow  an  affection  for  a 


196  MRS.   JORDAN 

woman  of  the  most  fascinating  description ;  and 
his  yet  unsullied  honour  was  the  pledge  that  the 
fruits,  if  any,  of  such  an  union,  should  be  consid- 
ered most  sacredly  as  his  —  that  he  took  the 
duties  of  a  father  along  with  the  natural  relation. 
We  were  now  in  the  ferment  of  the  French 
revolution,  and  it  became  a  crime  in  the  eyes  of 
no  small  part  of  the  public  that  Mrs.  Jordan  had 
listened  to  a  prince.  In  spite  of  his  services  as  a 
naval  officer,  and  the  frank,  cordial  manners  which 
were  not  more  the  characteristics  of  his  profession 
than  of  his  own  nature,  the  noble  seaman  was 
neither  well  treated  by  the  government,  nor  did 
his  popularity  at  all  compensate  a  very  niggardly 
establishment.1  On  a  sudden  writers  in  the  daily 

*The  union  of  the  three  royal  brothers  on  the  question  of 
the  regency,  as  it  distinctly  menaced  the  minister,  so  it  did  not 
greatly  please  the  personage  most  interested  in  the  question. 
I  understood  from  high  authority,  indeed,  that  his  Majesty 
thoroughly  approved  of  the  measures  adopted  by  Mr.  Pitt.  It 
was  remarked  that  this  question  completely  changed  the  feelings 
of  the  two  great  parties.  The  Whigs  were  now  for  inherent  in- 
divisible sovereignty,  and  the  Tories  advocates  for  the  power  of 
Parliament.  The  former  disdaining  any  limitation  of  an  heir; 
the  latter  considering  that  very  circumstance  as  exciting  peculiar 
vigilance,  —  looking  upon  it,  of  course,  as  an  abstract  question, 
—  and,  to  a  man,  admitting  that,  if  any  individual  could  be 
regent  without  condition  and  limitation,  the  Prince  of  Wales  was 
the  person. 


MRS.  JORDAN  197 

papers  became  most  anxiously  solicitous  about 
Mrs.  Jordan's  family  (as  if  it  had  not  at  all  times 
been  the  "  precious  jewel  of  her  soul ").  "  What, 
in  the  new  connection,  became  of  Mrs.  Jordan's 
family?"  Mr.  Ford  was  elevated  by  some  per- 
sons into  an  injured  and  deserted  man ;  they 
neither  knew  him,  nor  his  privity  to  the  advances 
made  by  the  noble  suitor.  They  had  never  seen 
him  at  the  wing  of  the  theatre,  and  thrown  their 
eyes,  as  he  must  have  done,  to  the  private  boxes. 
Mrs.  Jordan  was  not  a  woman  to  hoodwink  her- 
self in  any  of  her  actions  —  she  knew  the  sanctions 
of  law  and  religion  as  well  as  anybody,  and  their 
value ;  this  implies  that  she  did  not  view  them 
with  indifference.  And  had  Mr.  Ford,  as  she  pro- 
posed to  him,  taken  that  one  step  farther  which 
the  duke  could  not  take,  the  treaty  with  the  latter 
would  have  ended  at  the  moment. 

Finding  herself  thus  annoyed  at  her  very  break- 
fast-table, she  resolved  not  to  sit  unmoved,  but  let 
the  public  know  her  own  feeling  as  a  woman, 
while  she  vindicated  her  conduct  as  an  actress. 
The  following  letter  from  her  accordingly  appeared 
in  all  the  public  prints.  It  was  dated  from  the 
Treasury,  by  which  must  be  meant  the  treasury  of 
the  theatre. 


198  MRS.   JORDAN 

"  TREASURY  OFFICE,  Nov.  30,  1790. 

«  SIR  :  —  I  have  submitted  in  silence  to  the  un- 
provoked and  unmanly  abuse  which,  for  some  time 
past,  has  been  directed  against  me ;  because  it  has 
related  to  subjects  about  which  the  public  could 
not  be  interested ;  but  to  an  attack  upon  my  con- 
duct in  my  profession,  and  the  charge  of  want  of 
respect  and  gratitude  to  the  public,  I  think  it  my 
duty  to  reply. 

"  Nothing  can  be  more  cruel  and  unfounded  than 
the  insinuation  that  I  absented  myself  from  the 
theatre  on  Saturday  last  from  any  other  cause  than 
real  inability  from  illness  to  sustain  my  part  in  the 
entertainment.  I  have  ever  been  ready  and  proud 
to  exert  myself,  to  the  utmost  of  my  strength, 
to  fulfil  my  engagements  with  the  theatre,  and  to 
manifest  my  respect  for  the  audience  ;  and  no  per- 
son can  be  more  grateful  for  the  indulgence  and 
applause  with  which  I  have  been  constantly  hon- 
oured. I  would  not  obtrude  upon  the  public  an 
allusion  to  anything  that  does  not  relate  to  my 
profession,  in  which  alone  I  may,  without  presump- 
tion, say  I  am  accountable  to  them ;  but  thus 
called  on,  in  the  present  instance,  there  can  be  no 
impropriety  in  my  answering  those  who  have  so 
ungenerously  attacked  me,  'that,  if  they  could 


MRS.   JORDAN  199 

drive  me  from  that  profession,  they  would  take 
from  me  the  only  income  I  have,  or  mean  to 
possess,  the  whole  earnings  of  which,  upon  the 
past,  and  one-half  for  the  future,  I  have  already 
settled  upon  my  children.'  Unjustly  and  cruelly 
traduced  as  I  have  been  upon  this  subject,  I  trust 
that  this  short  declaration  will  not  be  deemed 
impertinent ;  and  for  the  rest,  I  appeal  with  confi- 
dence to  the  justice  and  generosity  of  the  public. 
I  am,  sir, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"Don.  JORDAN." 

I  have  not  preserved  any  of  the  ill-natured 
sneers  at  this  clear  and  candid  explanation.  It 
had  not  (perhaps  a  vain  attempt)  satisfied  every- 
body, and  I  really  now  forget  whether  she  or  Mrs. 
Crouch,  in  the  interim,  was  the  Matilda  of  "  Rich- 
ard Cceur  de  Lion;"  but,  on  the  roth  of  Decem- 
ber, when  she  came  on  as  Roxalana,  in  the 
"Sultan,"  it  was  obvious  that  a  decided  dis- 
pleasure was  organised  against  her,  and  she  had 
nerve  enough  to  advance  intrepidly  to  the  front, 
with  no  affected  ignorance  of  their  meaning,  and 
properly  confining  herself  to  her  theatrical  duties, 
thus  addressed  them  : 


200  MRS.   JORDAN 

"  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  —  I  should  con- 
ceive myself  utterly  unworthy  of  your  favour, 
if  the  slightest  mark  of  public  disapprobation 
did  not  affect  me  very  sensibly. 

"Since  I  have  had  the  honour  and  the  happi- 
ness to  strive  here  to  please  you,  it  has  been  my 
constant  endeavour,  by  unremitting  assiduity,  to 
merit  your  approbation.  I  beg  leave  to  assure 
you,  upon  my  honour,  that  I  have  never  absented 
myself  one  minute  from  the  duties  of  my  profes- 
sion, but  from  real  indisposition.  Thus  having 
invariably  acted,  I  do  consider  myself  under  the 
public  protection." 

This  was  exactly  the  way  to  treat  them.  The 
manner  was  extremely  good  ;  the  little  hardship 
that  sat  upon  her  brow,  and  like  a  cloud  kept 
back  the  comic  smile  that  but  waited  their  cheer 
to  burst  forth,  the  graceful  obeisance  that  fol- 
lowed her  complete  triumph  (for  it  was  complete), 
and  the  mode  in  which  she  resumed  her  task  to 
delight,  after  she  had  personally  suffered  pain,  - 
as  she  trusted  them  all  to  nature,  so  that  steady 
friend  did  not  fail  her  in  the  least.  There  was 
nothing  in  the  "  Sultan,"  certainly,  that  came  near 
the  effect  of  the  address.  I  was  present,  I  re- 


Mrs.  Crouch 

Engraved  by  Bartolozzi 


MRS.   JORDAN  201 

member,  and  enjoyed  it  as  much  as  I  had  done 
Mrs.  Siddons's  more  solemn  vindication  as  to 
Brereton's  benefit. 

The  revival  of  Garrick's  "Cymon,"  with  great 
splendour,  was  an  affair  of  Kelly's,  who  certainly 
could  do  a  great  deal  in  the  spurring  up  Sheridan 
to  exertion.  But  now  he  might  fill  his  theatre 
with  the  personal  admirers  only  of  the  female  cast 
of  it,  e.  g.  : 

Sylvia  ....  Miss  Hagley. 

Urganda  ....  Mrs.  Crouch. 

Fatima  ....  Mrs.  Jordan. 

Phebe  ....  Miss  Decamp. 

Daphne  ....  Mrs.  Bland. 

Dorcas  ....  Dicky  Suett. 

It  is,  without  the  old  lady,  an  instance  which  is 
rarely  met  with,  of  captivations  of  great  variety 
combined  very  skilfully,  and  almost  rendering  the 
"  Cymon  "  of  the  former  manager  worthy  of  the 
crowds  that  followed  it.  Bannister,  Jr.,  had 
more  effect  in  Linco  than  Dodd ;  Parsons  re- 
tained his  old  part,  Dorus  ;  Kelly  looked  Cymon 
exactly;  and  as  to  your  Damon  and  Daemon,  by 
Dignum  and  Sedgewick,  in  musical  merit  and  the 
demerit  of  their  acting,  there  was  not  a  pin  to 


202  MRS.   JORDAN 

choose  between  them.  Old  Bannister,  too,  was 
excellent,  either  as  Merlin  or  his  master. 

After  this  gay  spectacle  there  was  a  supper  at 
Kelly's,  at  which,  in  the  French  phrase,  I  assisted, 
and  Sheridan  joined  us,  with  Richardson  and  Ford. 
Mrs.  Crouch  sat  at  the  head  of  the  table  and 
pledged  the  success,  to  which  she  had  so 
much  contributed,  in  the  only  wine  she  drank, 
port.  Kelly  lived  hospitably  and  with  little  cer- 
emony, and  gave  his  song  and  his  claret  with 
equal  readiness,  and  at  that  time  they  were  equally 
good. 

Mrs.  Jordan,  this  season,  was  not  what  might 
be  called  strong  at  her  benefit,  for  her  play  was 
the  "  Country  Girl,"  and  the  farce,  a  rather  hasty 
thing,  from  the  French  of  M.  Simon,  called  the 
"Village  Coquette."  It  afforded  Mrs.  Jordan 
the  necessary  field  for  the  display  of  her  talents, 
and  some  clever  scenery  had  been  got  up  on  the 
introduction  of  a  rural  breakfast,  in  imitation  of 
Mrs.  Hobart's  Festino  at  Sans  Souci.  But  noth- 
ing more  came  of  the  farce,  the  management  not 
choosing  to  adopt  it. 

Mr.  Richardson,  the  friend  and  constant  com- 
panion of  Sheridan,  at  length  brought  out  a 
comedy  at  Drury  Lane  called  the  "Fugitive," 


MRS.   JORDAN  203 

and  the  adventures  of  the  heroine  exhibited  the 
person  of  Mrs.  Jordan  rather  than  her  peculiar 
merits  as  an  actress.  She  elopes  with  a  lover, 
whose  joy  has  incapacitated  him  from  conducting 
his  mistress  in  safety ;  she  falls  into  a  variety  of 
snares,  and  keeps  up  a  steady  hue  and  cry  after 
her  till  the  last  act,  when  the  usual  reconciliations 
produce  the  usual  close.  Miss  Herbert,  a  charac- 
ter for  the  nonce,  not,  perhaps,  the  most  natural 
in  the  world,  from  mere  sympathy  with  the  fugi- 
tive, feigns  herself  a  passion  for  Lord  Dartford, 
simply  to  take  him  out  of  Julia  Wingrove's  way  ; 
reasons  with  her  brother,  whom  she  loves,  and  is 
the  best  friend  in  the  world  to  her,  and,  through 
the  whole  comedy,  never  speaks  a  single  word 
to  this  object  of  her  solicitude.  Like  the  great 
majority  of  English  play  writers,  Mr.  Richardson 
has  no  organisation  of  his  materials  and  no  origi- 
nality in  his  incidents ;  he  conceives  character, 
but  merely  as  vehicles  for  the  author's  senti- 
ments. 

Of  his  "Admiral"  I  have  spoken  in  another 
place,  and  shall  here,  therefore,  merely  notice  a 
generous  and  pointed  sentence,  which  he  has  put 
into  the  mouth  of  Miss  Herbert.  Young  Win- 
grove,  when  urged  to  excuse  his  sister's  disobedi- 


204  MRS.   JORDAN 

ence  as  similar  only  to  his  own,  ventures  to  reply, 
"  My  sister,  ma'am,  is  a  woman  !  "  The  sarcasm 
of  Miss  Herbert  is  thus  expressed  : 

"  Miss  Herb.  My  sister,  ma'am,  is  a  woman !  that  is, 
my  sister  is  an  interdicted  being  —  disinherited  by  nature  of 
her  common  bounties  —  a  creature  with  regard  to  whom 
engagements  lose  their  faith  and  contracts  their  obligations. 
In  your  fictitious  characters  as  lovers,  you  endeavour  to 
make  us  believe  that  we  are  exalted  above  human  weak- 
nesses ;  but  in  your  real  characters  as  men,  you  more  hon- 
estly demonstrate  to  us  that  you  place  us  even  below  your 
own  level,  and  deny  us  the  equal  truth  and  justice  that 
belongs  alike  to  all  intelligent  beings." 

Richardson,  like  Sheridan,  got  his  love  of 
pointed  sentences  from  Junius,  whose  tune  was 
continually  in  their  ears.  Had  Sheridan  come  a 
very  few  years  earlier  into  the  world,  he  would 
have  been  a  capital  competitor  in  the  list  of  candi- 
dates for  the  honour  of  writing  the  letters  signed 
by  that  name,  but  at  fifteen  the  thing  was  im- 
possible. 

On  the  28th  of  June  of  the  present  year  Sheri- 
dan met  with  a  loss  that,  in  spite  of  his  careless 
habits,  hung  heavily  upon  his  mind  for  years,  —  the 
death  of  his  first  wife,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Mrs. 
Linley,  of  Bath.  She  had  married  Mr.  Sheridan 
on  the  24th  of  April,  1773,  and  his  ardour  as  a 


MRS.   JORDAN  205 

lover  was  quite  commensurate  with  the  personal, 
mental,  and  vocal  captivations  of  the  lady.  He 
had  sighed  for  her,  fought  for  her,  wrote  for  her, 
and,  but  for  the  distracting  solicitations  of  party, 
ambition,  and  the  theatre,  might  have  mingled  his 
own  genius  with  hers  in  a  retirement  sufficient 
alike  for  happiness  and  respectability ;  a  delicate 
frame  might  have  been  spared  many  annoyances 
to  which  it  was  subjected,  and  she  might  have 
long  been  continued  to  society  and  her  family. 
She  died  at  the  Hotwells,  Bristol,  of  a  deep  de- 
cline, and  excited  the  sorrow  of  every  muse. 
That  of  Doctor  Harrington,  in  a  language  de- 
voted to  distinguished  inscription,  supplied  the 
following  epitaph: 

"  In  obitum 

Dom.  ELIZ.  SHERIDAN, 

Forma,  voce,  atque  ingenio, 

Inter  ornatas  ornatissimae, 

Ab  imo  amores  ita  suspirat  amicus. 

Eheu  !  eheu !  lugeant  mortales ! 

Eja,  vero  gaudeant  ccelestes! 

Dulces  ad  amplexus 
Socians  jam  citharae  melos, 

Redit  pergrata, 

En  !  iterum  soror ; 

Suaviusque  nil  manet 

Hosannis." 


206  MRS.  JORDAN 

TRANSLATION. 

«•  Sure  every  beauty,  every  grace 

Which  other  females  share, 
Adorn'd  thy  mind,  thy  voice,  thy  face, 

Thou  fairest  of  the  fair ! 
Amidst  the  general  distress, 
O  let  a  friend  his  grief  express ! 

"  Mourn,  mourn  your  loss,  ye  mortals,  mourn  — 

Rejoice,  ye  heavenly  choir ! 
To  your  embraces  see  return 

A  sister  with  her  social  lyre  ; 
Eliza  now  resumes  her  seat, 
And  makes  your  harmony  complete." 

She  is  perpetuated  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  in 
a  picture  beyond  any  praise  of  mine;  an  exqui- 
site likeness  of  her  person,  and  combining  all  the 
poetry  of  art  with  the  richest  treasures  of  the 
palette.  Mr.  Burke,  who  enjoyed  above  other  men 
the  power  of  happy  expression,  said  of  his  friend's 
portraits,  "that  they  remind  the  spectator  of  the 
invention  of  history,  and  the  amenity  of  landscape. 
In  painting  portraits,  he  appeared  not  to  be  raised 
upon  that  platform,  but  to  descend  to  it  from  a 
higher  sphere." 

The  remains  of  Mrs.  Sheridan  rest  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  Wells,  in  the  same  vault  with  those  of  her 
beloved  sister,  Mrs.  Tickell,  who  by  a  few  years 


MRS.  JORDAN  207 

preceded  her.  Of  the  gifted  family  of  Linley  it 
may  truly  be  said,  in  the  exquisite  lines  of 
Thomson : 

"  As  those  we  love  decay,  we  die  in  part, 
String  after  string  is  sever'd  from  the  heart ; 
'Till  loosen'd  life,  at  last  but  breathing  clay, 
Without  one  pang,  is  glad  to  fall  away." 

We  had  recently  lost,  also,  the  great  painter  we 
have  just  mentioned  ;  and  among  all  the  admirers 
of  Mrs.  Jordan  he  was  the  most  fervent.  They  in- 
deed worshipped  at  the  same  altar,  and  Nature  was 
the  incessant  study  of  them  both.  The  painter 
and  the  actress  were  alike  offended  by  affecta- 
tion and  false  action.  Sir  Joshua  studied  children 
with  the  greatest  care,  when  they  imagined  them- 
selves unobserved,  and  could  permit  to  every  part 
of  the  frame  its  unrestrained  genuine  motion.  He 
was  quite  enchanted,  therefore,  with  a  being  who, 
like  Jordan,  ran  upon  the  stage  as  a  playground, 
and  laughed  from  sincere  wildness  of  delight.  He 
said  "  she  vastly  exceeded  everything  that  he  had 
seen,  and  really  was  what  others  only  affected  to 
be."  The  friend  to  whom  he  thus  expressed  him- 
self had  but  just  arrived  in  town,  and,  struck  by 
his  enthusiasm,  said  to  him,  "What,  sir,  greater 
than  your  friend  Mrs.  Abington  ?  "  "  Yes,  sir," 


208  MRS.   JORDAN 

said  Sir  Joshua,  "greater  than  Mrs.  Abington, 
wherever  she  challenges  comparison."  "Well," 
rejoined  his  friend,  "at  all  events  you  must  not 
forget  the  more  extended  range  of  Mrs.  Abington, 
—  her  fine  lady."  "I  do  not  forget  the  fine  lady 
of  Mrs.  Abington,  it  is  never  to  be  forgotten.  I 
spoke  of  the  two  actresses  where  they  challenged 
comparison ;  but  as  to  more  extensive  range,  I  do 
not  know  that  you  can  make  out  your  point,  for, 
opposed  to  these  fashionable  ladies,  you  have  the 
fashionable  men  of  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  the  women 
who  would  pass  for  men,  whether  Wildairs  or 
Hypolitas,  in  comedy,  and  the  tender  and  exqui- 
site Viola  of  Shakespeare,  where  she  combines 
feeling  with  sportive  effect,  and  does  as  much 
by  the  music  of  her  melancholy  as  the  music 
of  her  laugh." 

His  friend  told  me  that  he  took  Sir  Joshua's 
recommendation,  and  hastened  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  great  comedian,  who  assumed 
full  possession  of  his  heart,  and  her  impression  is 
little  weakened  at  the  present  hour.  I  inquired 
now  more  particularly  whether  she  had  ever  sat 
to  Sir  Joshua,  or  he  had  made  any  sketch  of  her  ? 
He  told  me  decidedly  not ;  and  therefore  we 
must  be  indebted  to  Romney  for  preserving  her 


MRS.   JORDAN  209 

likeness  with  an  action  full  of  sprightliness 
and  grace,  and  that  sufficiently  early  in  her 
career  to  want  nothing  as  to  the  exterior  of  the 
Country  Girl ;  for,  as  to  the  interior,  the  ac- 
tress did  not  yield  much  to  time,  and  the  mind 
and  the  laugh  of  her  teens  seemed  always  at  her 
command. 

Mrs.  Jordan  in  the  autumn  of  1792  was  com- 
pelled to  unwilling  retirement  from  her  profes- 
sional duties.  She  miscarried  on  the  6th  of 
August,  at  Petersham,  of  a  daughter,  being  at  the 
time  far  advanced  in  her  pregnancy.  It  was  in 
the  month  of  September  following  that  she  came 
to  the  play  at  Richmond,  to  see  Mrs.  Litchfield, 
then  a  young  actress,  perform  the  part  of  Julia,  in 
the  "Surrender  of  Calais."  She  was  so  pleased 
with  that  lady's  fine  voice  and  spirited  manner, 
that  she  applauded  her  vehemently ;  indeed,  so 
unguardedly,  as  to  break  the  gold  chain  to  which 
a  royal  portrait  was  suspended,  and  cause  it  to  fall 
upon  the  stage  from  the  box  just  over  it.  She 
did  not  appear  in  the  season  of  1792-93  until  the 
2$th  of  February,  in  the  oratorio  period ;  and  then 
she  carried  her  point  against  Kemble,  and  brought 
out  a  new  comedy,  called  "Anna,"  which  the 
manager  considered  to  be  an  outrageous  insult  to 


210  MRS.   JORDAN 

his  authority.  It  was  said  to  be  written  by  a  Miss 
Cuthbertson,  with  a  few  touches  from  Jordan's 
own  pen.  I  never  knew  decidedly  that  the  play 
was  rightly  fathered  upon  either  lady ;  the  Jordan, 
however,  evidently  brought  it  forth.  Disputes 
ran  very  high  about  this  play.  Mrs.  Jordan  called 
for  novelty  —  Kemble  thought  that  she,  like  him- 
self and  his  sister,  should  be  contented  with  the 
sterling  drama,  by  which  they  had  acquired  their 
reputations,  and  that  the  novelty  should  only  as 
entertainment  hold  up  the  train.  He  threatened 
to  resign  his  office  if  that  play  was  done  :  it  was 
only  done  once,  and  thus  the  great  disputants  both 
triumphed  —  how  far  the  reported  displeasure  of 
Kemble  contributed  to  the  fate  of  the  play,  may 
be  a  question ;  I  should  not  be  disposed  to  carry 
in  this  way  a  point  against  him,  or  a  slighter  man, 
who  was  a  manager. 

The  only  thing  I  should  have  considered  in  Mrs. 
Jordan's  situation,  was,  how  the  play  was  written. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  novelty  in  "  Anna." 
There  is  an  amorous  old  dowager,  and  the  more 
seasonable  passion  of  two  young  ladies  —  but  the 
whole  family  are  Touchwood's.  There  was  the 
old  disguise  for  Mrs.  Jordan's  figure,  and  the  charm 
which  admitted  of  no  disguise,  a  musical  call  upon 


MRS.   JORDAN  211 

her  voice.  To  excite  her  lover's  jealousy,  she  in 
the  male  habit  sings  a  love-song  to  herself,  under 
her  own  window,  and  is,  by  the  usual  clear-sighted 
lover  of  the  stage,  immediately  taken  for  a  danger- 
ous rival,  and  a  challenge,  and  its  consequence,  a 
meeting,  follow,  as  things  of  course;  they  rush 
not  on,  but  into  each  other's  arms,  and  a  most 
generous  brother  (things  fancied  every  day)  makes 
a  handsome  provision  for  both  parties.  There  is 
a  Miss  Harcourt  in  "  Anna,"  perhaps  because  there 
was  a  Miss  Herbert  in  the  "  Fugitive,"  and  Mrs. 
Powell  was  charged  with  the  former  lady,  as  Miss 
Farren  had  been  with  the  latter.  Mrs.  Jordan 
spoke  an  epilogue  of  a  very  ponderous  nature  on 
the  subject  of  novelty,  which  should  seem  to  have 
had  some  newspaper  origin,  as  may  be  seen  by  its 
only  points. 

"  Posts  against  Heralds  wage  their  paper  war  — 
The  Sun  just  rising,  and  the  falling  Star." 

And  again,  a  few  lines  on,  — 

"  The  World  and  Times  are  grown  as  dull  as  Posts." 

The  town,  however,  were  delighted  to  see  their 
gay  comedian  returned  to  them  after  a  severe 
illness,  and  she  soon  reconciled  herself  to  her 
old  parts,  since  newer  could  not  be  found  for  her. 


212  MRS.   JORDAN 

Mrs.  Siddons's  turn  for  novelty  next  came  on, 
and  the  subject  was  "Ariadne."  Murphy  had 
kept  this  tragedy  long  by  him,  and  even  printed  it 
before  it  was  acted.  Like  most  French  tragedy, 
it  was  cold  and  weak,  declamatory  and  measured 
in  its  effects,  and  better  suited  to  the  form  and 
style  of  Mrs.  Yates  than  those  of  Mrs.  Siddons, 
who  was  rather  Roman  than  Grecian,  like  her 
brother.  When  we  read  of  the  astonishing  im- 
pression made  by  the  French  actresses,  La 
Champmel6,  Le  Couvreur,  Dumesnil,  Clairon,  and 
some  few  others,  we  must  always  recollect  the 
manner  in  which  they  warm  those  tirades  of  de- 
scription, or  metaphysical  analyses,  that  unfold  a 
passion,  rather  than  present  it  in  operation.  We 
are  not  fond  of  fifty  lines  together,  even  when 
they  are  Shakespeare's,  and  have  little  delight  in 
the  sonorous  modulations  of  mere  eloquence.  We 
know  nothing  of  heathen  mythology  in  its  great 
influence,  and  the  incestuous  Ph&ire  would  in  vain 
mention  the  goddess  of  beauty  to  our  ears  as  the 
inspirer  of  her  passion.  I  am  serious  in  asserting 
that  the  following  lines  could  never  excite  the 
cries  of  rapture  in  a  British  theatre  that  they  have 
so  constantly  produced  in  the  Theatre  Fran£ais ; 
whether  from  vanity  or  taste,  the  French  are  the 


MRS.   JORDAN  213 

modern  Athenians.     It  is  the  sister  of  Ariadne 
who  speaks. 

u  Je  respirois,  Oenone,  et  depuis  son  absence, 
Mes  jours  moins  agitds  couloient  dan  1'innocence. 
Soumise  a  mon  epoux,  et  cachant  mes  ennuis, 
De  son  fatal  hymen  je  cultivois  les  fruits ; 
Vaines  precautions !  cruelle  destinee ! 
Par  mon  epoux  lui-me'me  a  Trdzene  amende, 
J'ai  revu  1'ennemi  que  j'avois  e'loigne ; 
Ma  blessure  trop  vive  aussi-t6t  a  saigne ; 
Ce  n'est  plus  une  ardeur  dans  mes  veines  cache'e, 
C'est  Venus  toute  entie're  a  sa  proie  attache'e." 

—  Phtdre,  by  Racine. 

This  shameless  passion  of  maturity  would  excite 
laughter  among  us ;  and  the  more  heroic  the  form 
of  the  speaker,  the  less  should  we  excuse  it.  Such 
a  passion  could  only  be  borne,  if  at  all,  in  the 
melancholy  garb  of  penitence,  hardly  announced 
to  be  intelligible  to  the  hearer,  and  succeeded  by 
unappeasable  despair !  I  run  over  the  close  in 
such  English  as  occurs  at  the  moment : 

"  O  vain  precautions  !  cruel  destiny  ! 

Theseus,  my  husband,  brings  him  to  Trezene, 
Once  more  I  view  the  foe  I  had  remov'd ; 
Again  gush'd  from  my  wound  its  crimson  flood ; 
No  longer  now  a  smother'd  ardour  beat, 
But  Venus  fir'd  my  veins,  and  revell'd  in  her  prey." 


214  MRS.   JORDAN 

But  the  "Rival  Sisters"  had  nothing  of  this 
brilliant  kind.  I  never  thought  Mrs.  Siddons  her- 
self in  very  modern  tragedy.  She  was  best  where 
she  had  to  strive  against  the  fame  of  other  per- 
formers—  to  weigh  their  different  notions,  and 
determine  on  her  own  judgment,  which,  out  of 
many,  was  the  true  manner.  She  acted  Ariadne, 
I  think,  six  times. 

Miss  Farren,  the  third  great  moving  power  in 
the  theatre,  had  a  new  character,  though  under 
"  False  Colours ; "  for  such  was  the  name  of  a 
five-act  comedy,  written  by  Mr.  Morris,  a  gentle- 
man and  a  scholar,  and  a  Templar,  which  was  long 
but  another  term  for  a  wit.  He,  perhaps,  wrote 
rather  too  rapidly  for  duration ;  but  he  lived  his 
nine  nights,  and  then  yielded  up  the  field  to  other 
adventurers  of  no  greater  force. 

Mrs.  Jordan,  on  her  benefit  night,  indulged 
herself  and  her  friends  with  a  performance  of 
Lady  Restless,  in  Murphy's  "All  in  the  Wrong," 
and  the  "  Devil  to  Pay "  for  her  farce.  In  Nell 
there  could  be  no  difference  of  opinion.  In 
Lady  Restless,  and  parts  of  that  rank,  I  never 
could  think  her  superior  to  other  women. 
Milton,  in  his  "Comus,"  has  a  very  happy  ex- 
pression upon  a  very  different  occasion.  He 


MRS.   JORDAN  215 

says  that  the  earth,  if  we  were  uniformly  tem- 
perate, would  — 

"  Be  strangled  with  her  waste  fertility." 

I  always  thought  this  the  case  with  the  beauti- 
ful form  of  Mrs.  Jordan,  when  enveloped  in  the 
garments  of  a  woman  of  fashion  —  a  train,  except 
of  admirers,  was  a  thing  she  had  no  skill  in  manag- 
ing. Alert  in  every  action,  she  kicked  it  hastily 
out  of  her  way.  She  had  not  the  height  that  may 
properly  be  said  to  command  such  an  appendage 
—  it  wanted  balance  accordingly.  The  endeavour 
to  give  this  by  lofty  feathers  always  fails.  The 
face,  which  should  be  everything,  is  lost  under  the 
waving  plumage,  supported  by  its  cushion  of 
powdered  hair.  I  am  no  great  admirer  of  revolu- 
tions, but  that  of  France  referred  our  ladies  hap- 
pily to  the  statues  of  the  Greeks,  rather  than 
the  dressed  dolls  of  the  milliners,  and  for  many 
years  they  bore  some  evidences  of  the  real  human 
figure  about  them.  They  have  now  gone  to  the 
times  of  Queen  Elizabeth  for  sleeves,  which,  by 
their  enormous  swell  and  the  slender  bone  at  the 
bottom  of  them,  put  all  definement  of  their  arms 
out  of  the  question,  and  the  ingenious  artist, 
who  represents  human  figures  by  coal-scuttles 


216  MRS.   JORDAN 

and  gridirons,  sauce-pans,  horse-combs,  and  ex- 
tinguishers, might  express  the  outward  sign  of 
the  female  arm  by  a  stick  with  a  bladder  tied 
to  the  end  of  it.  But  we  see  renewal  even  in 
change  itself. 

Cumberland,  as  a  man  of  letters,  far  exceeded 
all  his  dramatic  cotemporaries.  His  origin,  the 
great  fame  of  his  ancestors,  his  advantages  as  to 
education,  and,  to  do  him  justice,  an  application 
that  yielded  only  to  that  of  Doctor  Watson  at 
college,  had  placed  him  in  no  mean  rank  as  a 
scholar ;  and  he  had  a  readiness  in  the  applica- 
tion of  his  power  that  somewhat  justified  Doctor 
Johnson's  theory,  that  a  man  can  walk  as  well  to 
the  east  as  to  the  west.  How  well  he  may  walk, 
depends  upon  his  training,  and  the  original  make 
and  muscle  of  the  limb.  Critic,  essayist,  drama- 
tist, novelist,  polemic,  and,  as  a  poet,  tragic,  comic, 
and  epic,  he  exhausted  all  the  literary  adjectived 
nouns  or  nouns  adjective  in  ic  or  ist ;  and  this 
universality  has  failed  to  attain  the  first  rank,  let 
alone  the  first  place,  in  anything.  His  quantity 
was  prodigious,  and  he  threw  his  pieces  up  like 
mushrooms,  in  a  few  hours.  His  language  was 
always  perspicuous,  usually  delicate  and  neat, 
sometimes  pointed  and  brilliant.  He  wrote  for 


MRS    JORDAN  217 

either  theatre,  and  in  the  present  year,  1793,  he 
had  constructed  for  Covent  Garden  an  opera  on 
the  subject  of  Wat  Tyler.  This  the  aspen  nerve 
of  my  old  friend  the  licenser,  Mr.  Larpent,  un- 
willing to  alarm  the  civic  chair  by  any  call  for  an 
exertion  of  the  mace  in  a  new  rebellion,  proscribed 
'  with  that  official  fiat,  which  is  expurgatory  in  liter- 
ature, Heaven  knows  !  anything  but  classical.  In 
cutting  out  the  treason,  Cumberland,  oddly  enough, 
says  he  cut  out  all  the  comedy ;  and  thus  joined 
himself  to  those  who  have  nothing  good  in  their 
pieces  but  what  is  objectionable.  Instead  of  the 
Tyler,  we  have  an  armourer,  called  Furnace,  who 
furnishes  out  the  business  of  the  play  by  ham- 
mering professionally  one  Bluster  on  the  head, 
who  was  attempting  to  carry  off  another  Rosa, 
mond,  for  the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  in  the  days  of 
Richard  the  Second. 

Cumberland's  armourer  lived  three  days,  and 
then  gave  way,  as  he  said  truly,  to  fashionable  levi- 
ties. But  he  was  hurt  still  more  on  the  i8th  of 
the  same  month  of  April,  by  the  brilliant  success 
of  Reynolds  in  his  third  comedy,  called,  with  great 
propriety,  "How  to  Grow  Rich."  The  dreamers 
of  the  old  school  seem  to  have  settled  their  notion 
of  what  they  called  legitimate  comedy  somewhere 


218  MRS.   JORDAN 

about  the  "  Conscious  Lovers ; "  they  were  to  be 
regulated  by  a  receipt,  and  made  like  other  stale 
and  tiresome  amusements,  as  they  had  ever  been 
in  the  days  of  yore.  To  "eye  nature's  walks, 
to  shoot  folly  as  it  flies,"  to  present  to  the 
audience  of  the  modern  stage  anything  seen  in 
modern  life,  was  somehow  or  other  converted  into 
a  crime  by  these  critical  playwrights,  and  the  most 
amusing,  if  not  most  instructive  of  modern  authors, 
has  literally  been  persecuted  for  painting  accu- 
rately what  he  saw  before  him.  The  "Terence 
of  England,"  forsooth !  the  "  mender  of  hearts," 
was  excessively  illiberal  through  life,  and  affected 
to  think  my  ingenious  and  pleasant  friend  a  mere 
idler  of  the  garden,  who  under  the  awful  roof  of 
Drury  would  be  hooted  ignominiously  from  the 
stage.  But  in  reference  to  the  present  play,  where 
could  a  comic  satirist  find  more  legitimate  prey  (if 
that  is  the  word)  than  the  infamous  faro  banks, 
that  were  now  exciting  the  avarice  and  racking  the 
nerves  of  what  should  be  the  purest,  as  it  is  cer- 
tainly the  fairest  part  of  the  creation  ?  What  more 
morally  in  harmony,  than  the  gibbeting  a  scoundrel 
bailiff  to  infamy,  who  opened  his  luxurious  retire- 
ments to  profligate  gamblers,  and  taught  the  dis- 
honest of  high  life  how  the  defiance  of  injured 


MRS.  JORDAN  219 

creditors  and  splendid  accommodation   might  be 
enjoyed  together  ? 

As  to  Mr.  Lewis  and  his  padded  Epilogue,  I 
can  only  say  that  I  never  heard  such  roars  of 
laughter  in  a  theatre ;  and  the  notion,  though 
hazardous,  was  lucky ;  but  it  was  safe  by  what  had 
prepared  its  way :  the  temper  of  the  house  had 
been  worked  up  to  it.  Had  it  followed  a  dull 
comedy,  Lewis  must  have  kept  the  pad  in  his 
pocket  —  to  have  but  named  it  might  have  been 
fatal.  It  was  encored  like  a  favourite  air,  "  Pray 
Goody,"  by  Sinclair,  or  any  other  vocalist  equally 
sweet  and  natural,  if  there  be  one.  Aye,  and  a 
third  time!  but  that  exceeded  Mr.  Lewis's  com- 
plaisance, and  the  pad  carried  him  off,  or  he  the 
pad,  in  measureless  content.  I  really  was  almost 
as  happy  as  the  author. 


CHAPTER   X. 

History  of  Drury  Lane  Theatres  —  Their  Origin  in  the  Cockpit, 
a  Little  Before  the  Retirement  of  Shakespeare  —  Destroyed 
by  a  Mob  in  1617  —  The  Phoenix  Built  in  the  Same  Spot  — 
Its  Preservation  in  the  Great  Rebellion  —  Rhodes,  the  Book- 
seller, and  His  Two  Apprentices,  Betterton  and  Kynaston  — 
Obtains  a  License  First  for  the  Phoenix,  and  Then  Joins 
D'Avenant  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  —  A  New  Theatre  Erected 
by  Killigrew  in  Drury  Lane  —  Opened  in  1662;  Burnt  Nine 
Years  Afterward — A  Church  Brief  Granted  on  This  Calam- 
ity —  Sir  Christopher  Wren  Builds  Once  More  upon  the  Old 
Spot  —  The  Advantages  of  His  Plan  Displayed  by  Colley 
Cibber  —  Apology  for  Its  Plainness  in  a  Prologue  and  Epi- 
logue by  the  Great  Dryden,  Spoken  at  Its  Opening  in  1674 
—  Union  of  the  Two  Companies  in  Drury  Lane  Theatre  — 
Christopher  Rich,  Patentee —  Silenced  by  the  Chamberlain  — 
Patents  Dormant  —  Sir  Richard  Steele's  License  to  Himself, 
Wilks,  Booth,  and  Cibber  —  Mr.  Highmore  —  Mr.  Fleetwood 
—The  Illustrious  Garrick  Becomes  Purchaser  with  Mr.  Lacy 
-Twenty  Years'  Splendour  of  Old  Drury  —  On  the  Great 
Actor's  Retirement,  Sheridan  Succeeds  Him  —  At  Length 
the  House  is  Taken  Down  —  Author's  Regard  for  It,  and 
Personal  Acquaintance  with  Its  Merits  and  Its  Defects  — 
Presages  on  Its  Fall. 

HE  Drury  Lane  company  acted  under 
the  management  of  Mr.  Colman  at  the 
Little  Theatre  from  the  beginning  of 
the  season  1793-94  until  their  own  theatre  was 
ready  for  them.  It  looked  a  mere  continuation  of 

220 


MRS.   JORDAN  221 

a  summer  season,  and  merits  no  particular  survey. 
Until,  therefore,  we  have  Mr.  Holland's  splendid 
palace  to  walk  into,  we  shall  fill  what  may  be 
called  the  vacant  space  by  inquiring  what  theatres 
or  playhouses  ever  stood  upon  or  near  the  site  of 
the  late  theatre  of  Drury  Lane. 

The  reader  will  not  be  surprised  to  find  a  cock- 
pit produce  a  playhouse  —  to  cut  off  a  segment  of 
the  circle,  and  apply  a  scaffolding  of  some  depth 
as  well  as  width  provides  easily  in  the  daytime  for 
both  spectators  and  performers.  The  cockpit 
was  present  to  the  mind  of  Shakespeare  when  he 
opened  the  warlike  play  of  "  Henry  the  Fifth." 

"  Can  this  cockpit  hold 
The  vasty  fields  of  France  ?  " 

But  Shakespeare's  playhouses  were  the  Globe, 
a  summer,  and  the  Blackfriars,  a  winter  quarters. 
The  cockpit  in  Drury  Lane  dates  somewhere 
about  the  period  of  his  retirement  from  the  scene, 
for  in  1617  it  was  destroyed  by  the  rabble,  though 
newly  erected,  and  all  its  apparatus  along  with  the 
building.  The  new  edifice  on  the  same  spot  was 
called  the  Phoenix,  which  fabulous  bird  it  bore  in 
front  for  a  sign,  and  thus  pointed  to  a  conflagra- 
tion as  well  as  a  renewal.  It  stood  opposite  the 
Castle  Tavern,  and  weathered  the  great  rebellion 


222  MRS.   JORDAN 

as  to  its  exterior,  though  the  saints  were  far  too 
pure  to  allow  a  representation  within  of  the  trage- 
dies of  any  other  age. 

The  actors  there,  while  we  had  a  stage,  were 
called  the  queen's  servants  in  the  reign  of  James 
the  First  until  Queen  Anne  died  in  1619.  They 
then  became  the  Lady  Elizabeth's ;  and  when 
Charles  the  First  married  Henrietta  of  France, 
they  were  styled  the  queen's  servants  again.  It  is 
probable  that  Sir  William  d'Avenant,  some  time 
before  the  Restoration,  both  at  the  Phoenix  and 
within  the  city  walls,  invited  those  who  had  not 
totally  been  canted  out  of  all  rational  enjoyment 
to  some  mixed  species  of  entertainment.  But 
with  the  actual  return  of  the  king,  all  restraint  be- 
ing removed,  Rhodes,  a  bookseller  who  had  con- 
ducted the  wardrobe  of  the  Blackfriars  during  the 
long  reign  of  Fletcher,  and  had  kept  his  fondness 
alive  through  the  dreary  interval,  fitted  up  the 
cockpit  once  more,  and  got  together  a  company, 
some  of  whom  he  had  contributed,  it  is  probable, 
to  form,  for  Betterton  and  Kynaston  had  been  his 
apprentices.  Rhodes,  when  Betterton  was  bound 
to  him,  lived  near  Charing  Cross,  and  it  is  fairly 
presumable  that  his  former  station  in  the  play- 
house and  his  congenial  business  led  him  to  pre- 


MRS.   JORDAN  223 

serve  much  stage  literature  from  destruction ;  so 
that  when  at  length  a  complete  collection  was 
attempted,  the  stores  of  Rhodes  would  supply  the 
Herringman's  with  the  quarto  plays,  which  he  had 
so  frequently  dressed  from  the  wardrobe  he  super- 
intended. One  can  hardly  forbear  to  imagine  the 
ardour  of  our  two  youths  invading  the  repose  of 
these  silent  plays,  and  at  a  favourable  season 
drawing  from  their  good-humoured  master  some 
notions  as  to  the  various  talents  by  which  so  much 
genius  was  illustrated.  In  1659,  when  Rhodes 
got  his  license,  Betterton  was  out  of  his  time  as 
a  bookseller;  but  a  hint  from  his  old  master 
brought  him  again  into  his  service,  and  he  could 
not  have  met  with  a  better  guide  as  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  stage.  Betterton  applied  himself  to 
the  works  of  Fletcher  with  uncommon  ardour,  and 
was  speedily  followed  as  the  genuine  successor  of 
the  heroes  of  the  Blackfriars  in  his  "  Loyal  Sub- 
ject," "Wild-goose  Chase,"  "Spanish  Curate," 
and  the  immense  variety  which  he  had  composed. 

When  D'Avenant  and  Killigrew  obtained  their 
two  patents,  Rhodes  thought  it  idle  to  stand  out 
upon  his  license  at  the  Phoenix,  and  his  company 
joined  that  with  which  D'Avenant  opened  the 
theatre  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  under  the  style  of 


224  MRS.    JORDAN 

the  duke's  servants.  The  superior  title  followed 
the  patent  of  Killigrew,  the  "  king's  servants ; " 
and  they  at  first  acted  in  a  house  situated  near 
Clare  market.  However,  finding  this  building  ill 
adapted  to  the  purposes  of  playing,  they  resolved 
to  return  to  the  old  spot,  and  erected  a  new  and 
convenient  theatre  in  Drury  Lane.  It  was  opened 
on  the  8th  of  April,  1662.  But  theatres  have 
been  combustible  from  their  origin,  and  this  new 
and  sumptuous  building  was  totally  consumed  in 
the  month  of  January,  1671-72.  So  rapid  and 
fierce  was  the  conflagration  that  between  fifty  and 
sixty  adjacent  houses  were  either  burnt  or  blown 
up.'  We  have  so  far  benefited  by  experience  that 
the  adjacent  buildings  now  suffer  less  by  the 
destruction  of  our  theatres,  though  their  condem- 
nation to  the  flames  seems  to  be  almost  a  patent 
right,  and  a  danger  attached  to  the  privilege. 

1  The  union  of  Church  and  king  is  usual,  perhaps  indissoluble, 
but  that  of  Church  and  theatre  little  to  be  looked  for  in  any 
age.  A  brief,  however,  was  actually  read  through  the  kingdom 
for  the  benefit  of  our  stage  sufferers.  The  register  of  Symons- 
bury,  in  the  county  of  Dorset,  has  the  following  liberal  entry : 

"Ann.  1673,  April  27th.     Collected  by  brief,  for  the  Theatre 
Royal  in  London,  being  burnt,  the  sum  of  Two  Shillings. 
'•JOHN  WAY,  Curate, 

"  JAMES  MOREY,  >  „ 

\  Churchwardens? 
"  GEORGE  SEAL,  > 


MRS.  JORDAN  225 

The  proprietors  were  not  discouraged  as  to  the 
seat  of  the  Muses,  and  determined,  with  all  the 
care  they  could  take,  to  rebuild  on  the  ancient 
spot.  They  consulted  Sir  Christopher  Wren 
upon  the  subject,  and  put  themselves  with  full 
confidence  in  the  hands  of  that  great  man.  He 
produced  a  plan  which  combined  every  advantage 
to  both  actor  and  spectator,  and  was  deliberately 
approved  and  adopted  by  men  of  the  soundest 
judgment.  The  king  himself,  by  command,  had 
sanctioned  the  plain,  unornamented  style  of  the 
building;  and  the  rule  that  pleasure,  as  we  ad- 
vance in  intellect,  proceeds  from  the  eye  to  the 
ear,  seemed  to  have  dictated  all  the  internal  ar- 
rangements of  the  architect.  Gibber,  who  knew 
it  in  its  perfection,  before  avarice  had  spoiled  it, 
thus  contrasts  its  appearance  forty  years  before 
the  time  in  which  he  was  then  writing :  "  The 
area  or  platform  of  the  old  stage  projected  about 
four  feet  forwarder  in  a  semi-oval  figure,  parallel 
to  the  benches  of  the  pit ;  the  former  lower  doors 
of  entrance  for  the  actors  were  brought  down 
between  the  two  foremost  (and  then  only)  pilas- 
ters ;  in  the  place  of  which  doors  now  the  two 
stage  boxes  are  fixed.  Where  the  doors  of  entrance 
now  are,  there  formerly  stood  two  additional  side 


226  MRS.   JORDAN 

wings,  in  front  to  a  full  set  of  scenes,  which  had 
then  almost  a  double  effect  in  their  loftiness  and 
magnificence.  By  this  original  form  the  usual 
station  of  the  actors  in  almost  every  scene  was 
advanced  at  least  ten  feet  nearer  to  the  audience 
than  they  now  can  be,  because,  not  only  from  the 
stage's  being  shortened  in  front,  but  likewise  from 
the  additional  interposition  of  those  stage  boxes, 
the  actors  (in  respect  of  the  spectators  that  fill 
them)  are  kept  so  much  more  backward  from  the 
main  audience  than  they  used  to  be ;  but  when 
the  actors  were  in  possession  of  that  forwarder 
space  to  advance  upon,  the  voice  was  then  more 
in  the  centre  of  the  house,  so  that  the  most  dis- 
tant ear  had  scarce  the  least  doubt  or  difficulty  in 
hearing  what  fell  from  the  weakest  utterance ;  all 
objects  were  thus  drawn  nearer  to  the  sense; 
every  painted  scene  was  stronger ;  every  grand 
scene  and  dance  more  extended  ;  every  rich  or 
fine  coloured  habit  had  a  more  lively  lustre;  nor 
was  the  minutest  motion  of  a  feature  (properly 
changing  with  the  passion  or  humour  it  suited) 
ever  lost,  as  they  frequently  must  be  in  the  ob- 
scurity of  too  great  a  distance :  and  how  valuable 
an  advantage  the  facility  of  hearing  distinctly  is 
to  every  well-acted  scene,  every  common  spectator 


MRS.  JORDAN  227 

is  a  judge :  a  voice  scarce  raised  above  the  tone  of 
a  whisper,  either  in  tenderness,  resignation,  inno- 
cent distress,  or  jealousy  suppressed,  often  has 
as  much  concern  with  the  heart  as  the  clamorous 
passions ;  and  when  on  any  of  these  occasions 
such  affecting  speeches  are  plainly  heard,  or  lost, 
how  wide  is  the  difference,  from  the  great  or  little 
satisfaction  received  from  them." 

This  great  man  (for  the  reader  must  pardon,  on 
this  occasion,  my  utter  contempt  for  Pope's  injus- 
tice) well  understood  the  subject,  and  spoke  as  an 
actor  who  had  personally  felt  the  happy  effects 
resulting  from  Wren's  original  plan.  The  royal 
injunction  was,  probably,  in  exact  conformity  with 
the  taste  of  the  architect,  who  said  with  Shylock : 

"  Let  not  the  glare  of  shallow  foppery  enter 
My  sober  dwelling." 

D'Avenant,  with  the  second  patent,  had  at 
length  settled  in  Dorset  Gardens,  and  was  turned 
by  nature  to  decoration.  The  "true  state  of 
man "  seemed  to  him  bare  and  wretched ;  he 
loaded  building  with  ornament,  covered  the  stage 
with  tawdry  procession  and  new  invented  ma- 
chinery ;  imagined  even  the  full  fables  of  Shakes- 
peare's age  deficient  in  effect :  clapt  two  plays 


228  MRS.   JORDAN 

together,  and  re-wrote  passages  that  should  have 
been  more  particularly  sacred  to  him  as  the  god- 
son of  Shakespeare ;  "  and  if  the  rest  be  true 
which  we  have  heard,"  this  degener  Neoptolemus 
became  the  decided  enemy  of  simplicity  and  gen- 
uine nature  in  the  drama  : 

"  Teem'd  with  new  monsters,  which  the  modest  earth 
Had  to  the  marbled  mansion,  all  above, 
Never  presented." 

In  this  course  of  its  patent  rival,  the  new 
theatre  in  Drury  Lane  opened  on  the  26th  of 
March,  1674,  and  to  their  disgrace  apologised  for 
the  plainness  which  was  their  real  excellence. 
They  even  pleaded  the  royal  order  as  extenuation, 
and  showed  their  envy  by  adverting  to  the  en- 
couragement which  the  public,  as  they  admitted, 
had  bestowed  upon  the  scenery  and  decorations  of 
the  other  house. 

Not  contented  with  the  authority  of  the  throne, 
they  procured  the  "  Patriarch  of  Poetry  "  to  state 
their  case  for  them,  and  a  few  extracts  from 
Dryden's  prologue  on  the  occasion  will  show  what 
the  plainness  was  of  which  they  complained : 

"  A  plain-built  house,  after  so  long  a  stay, 
Will  send  you  half  unsatisfied  away ; 


MRS.   JORDAN  229 

When,  fall'n  from  your  expected  pomp,  you  find 
A  bare  convenience  only  is  design'd  ; 
You,  who  each  day  can  theatres  behold, 
Like  Nero's  palace,  shining  all  with  gold, 
Our  mean  ungilded  stage  will  scorn,  we  fear ; 
And  for  the  homely  room  disdain  the  cheer. 

"  For  fame  and  honour  we  no  longer  strive, 
We  yield  in  both,  and  only  beg  to  live : 
Yet,  if  some  pride,  with  want,  may  be  allow'd, 
We,  in  our  plainness,  may  be  justly  proud  — 
Our  royal  master  will'd  it  should  be  so. 

"  While  scenes,  machines,  and  empty  operas  reign, 
And  for  the  pencil  you  the  pen  disdain  : 
'Tis  to  be  fear'd  — 

That,  as  a  fire  the  former  house  o'erthrew, 
Machines  and  tempests  will  destroy  the  new." 

Dryden,  luckless  Dryden,  here  for  his  price 
attacked  himself.  He  and  D'Avenant  absolutely 
wrote  and  contrived  this  "Tempest,"  which  was 
then  acting  at  Dorset  Gardens.  The  new  house 
had,  however,  some  merits,  and  Dryden's  epilogue 
shall  tell  us  what  they  were : 

"  Our  house  relieves  the  ladies  from  the  frights 
Of  ill-pav'd  streets,  and  long  dark  winter  nights. 
The  Flanders  horses,  from  a  cold,  bleak  road, 
Where  bears,  in  furs,  dare  scarcely  look  abroad." 


230  MRS.  JORDAN 

However,  he  has  one  capital  hit  at  the  Dorset 
Garden  Minerva.  That  theatre  was  adorned  with 
the  portraits  of  all  our  great  poets,  a  matchless 
decoration  ! 

"  Though  in  their  house  the  Poets'  heads  appear, 
We  hope  we  may  presume  their  wits  are  here." 

I  should  like,  as  a  matter  of  curiosity,  to  know, 
under  D'Avenant's  eye,  what  likeness  of  Shakes- 
peare his  theatre  exhibited. 

There  was  not,  in  this  great  city,  at  that  time, 
sufficient  encouragement  to  support  two  patent 
theatres,  which,  after  a  few  years'  struggle,  united 
the  two  companies  under  the  roof  of  Wren's  thea- 
tre. After  sundry  changes  both  patents  came 
into  the  possession  of  Christopher  Rich,  but  on 
his  misconduct  in  the  management,  the  chamber- 
lain silenced  him  in  the  year  1709;  from  which 
time  the  Drury  Lane  company  ceased  to  act  under 
the  authority  of  either  Killigrew  or  D'Avenant's 
patents.  But  in  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of 
George  I.  a  license  was  granted  to  Sir  Richard 
Steele  for  his  life,  and,  three  years  afterward,  to 
establish  a  company  under  the  management  of 
himself,  Wilks,  Booth,  and  Gibber.  From  this 
period  may  be  dated  the  vast  ascendency  of  Drury 
Lane  theatre.  The  death  of  the  two  former  pro- 


.S7;  Riclutd 
Engraved  in  me/zotint  by   I.  Smith,  from  the  paint. 
Jonathan  Richardson  (1713) 


MRS.   JORDAN  231 

prietors,  and  the  secession  of  the  two  latter,  how- 
ever, shook  the  concern  to  its  centre,  and  the 
property  passed  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Highmore, 
who  ruined  himself  in  the  speculation.  The 
theatre  was  now  bought  by  Mr.  Fleet  wood, 
another  architect  of  ruin.  But  the  brightest 
star  in  the  theatrical  firmament  soon  became 
stationary  over  Old  Drury,  and,  in  1747,  Mr. 
Garrick's  amazing  talent,  and  Mr.  Lacy's  care, 
commenced  a  period  the  most  brilliant  which  ever 
occurred  in  stage-management,  and  of  which  the 
providence  was  equally  conspicuous  with  the  genius. 
The  twentieth  year  beheld  the  setting  of  the  great 
luminary  we  have  mentioned,  and  the  theatre  en- 
joyed the  promise  of  a  new  but  somewhat  different 
splendour.  Mr.  Sheridan,  in  1776,  became  pro- 
prietor of  the  concern  ;  for  of  his  partners  it  is 
unnecessary  to  speak.  His  eccentric,  brilliant, 
but  yet  unsteady  course,  if  it  satisfied  himself, 
was  little  calculated  to  emulate  the  management 
of  Garrick  —  as  a  statesman,  he  lived  without 
office,  and  with  only  the  fame  of  eloquence ;  as 
a  poet,  he  depended  upon  the  display  made  in  his 
youth,  and  which  his  most  pressing  and  vital 
interest  could  not  induce  him  to  repeat  ;  he  had 
even  the  powers  of  a  man  of  business,  but  he 


232  MRS.   JORDAN 

exerted  them  too  seldom  tc  have  much  efficacy 
in  his  concerns.  Where  Garrick  amassed  a 
splendid  fortune,  Sheridan  accumulated  nothing 
but  debt ;  and  he  sealed  his  fate  by  the  encum- 
brances which  the  building  of  a  national  theatre 
upon  a  vast  scale  necessarily  fastened  upon  the 
concern. 

After  showing  the  succession  to  the  property, 
there  are  yet  a  few  particulars  to  notice  as  to  the 
Old  Drury.  After  standing  near  120  years,  it 
was  at  last  taken  down.  The  complaint  of  Gibber 
regarded  the  position  of  the  stage.  He  does  not 
charge  the  alterations  with  anything  beyond  trying 
to  contain  a  greater  number  of  spectators.  It  is 
rare,  I  think,  for  a  house  to  change  its  whole  char- 
acter in  its  alterations.  Garrick  received  it  a 
plain  theatre,  and  the  Adamses,  by  their  improve- 
ments, certainly  did  not  greatly  decorate  it.  To 
the  last,  for  I  can  bring  it  very  accurately  to  my 
mind's  eye,  it  was  a  plain  theatre  as  to  its  interior. 
It  had  the  common  defect  of  all  our  theatres 
except  the  Opera  House,  namely,  that  the  pit 
doors  of  entrance  were  close  to  the  orchestra,  and, 
as  they  did  not  choose  to  leave  the  most  valuable 
part  of  the  house  without  its  complement,  and 
there  was  no  mode  of  forcing  the  people  who  sat 


MRS.   JORDAN  233 

at  a  distance  to  inconvenience  themselves,  the 
doorkeepers,  by  the  box-screw,  kept  winding  in 
their  late  arrivals ;  and  the  pressure  into  the  mass 
close  to  it,  already  ill  at  ease,  and  dreading  a  new 
attack  every  moment  from  a  rushing  current  of 
cold  air,  which  ushered  in  the  stranger,  occasioned 
fits  among  the  women,  and  fights  among  the  men, 
while  the  stage  and  the  boxes  alike  suspended 
every  other  amusement  but  looking  on  till  silence 
was  restored. 

Over  this  "perturbed  spirit"  I  have  seen  the 
solemn  countenance  of  Kemble  bent  with  calm 
attention,  and  the  assumed  sympathy  of  Palmer 
bow  with  graceful  ambiguity.  Mrs.  Siddons  had 
somewhat  more  difficulty,  for  she  could  not  be 
sure  always  whether  the  disturbance  arose  from 
the  desire  to  see  her,  or  the  hysteric  results  of 
that  painful  pleasure.  Miss  Farren,  on  these 
occasions,  relaxed  the  lovely  smile  which  usually 
sat  upon  her  features,  and  looked  among  her 
fashionable  friends  for  pity  that  she  should  be  so 
annoyed.  Mrs.  Jordan  saw  it  with  the  eyes  of  the 
character  she  most  commonly  performed,  and,  at 
the  first  symptom  of  composure  below,  started  off 
into  the  sprightly  action  and  the  unfailing  laugh 
which  she  had  only  to  will  and  they  obeyed. 


234  MRS.  JORDAN 

It  was  into  this  theatre  that  Garrick  introduced 
the  French  improvement  of  the  trap  or  floating- 
light  in  front  of  the  stage,  screened  from  the  spec- 
tators, and  reflected  upon  the  actor.  Undoubtedly 
it  alters  the  course  of  nature,  and  casts  shadow 
upward  —  it  displays  the  hollows  which  expression 
would  wish  to  soften,  and  so  far  is  decidedly  un- 
picturesque.  But  no  artist  has  yet  been  able  to 
throw  sufficient  light  downwards,  and  not  lengthen 
the  shadows  beyond  the  proper  measure,  and  the 
glittering  chandelier,  when  lowered,  is  always 
wished  away  by  those  seated  above,  so  that  we  are 
likely  to  remain  as  we  are  in  the  illumination  of 
our  theatres. 

The  parting  with  Old  Drury  was  a  subject  of 
real  grievance  to  many  of  its  steady  frequenters  — 
they  looked  upon  its  limits  as  hallowed,  and  its 
form  as  prescriptive ;  they  shrunk  from  the  ap- 
proaches of  opera  and  spectacle.  They  said  it 
was  the  naturalisation  of  foreign  habits,  which 
would  debase,  if  they  did  not  destroy,  the  plain 
substance  of  our  native  tragedy  and  comedy. 


CHAPTER  XL 

The  Grand  National  Theatre  —  Description  of  It  —  Opening 
with  Sacred  Music —  First  Play  Acted  on  the  2ist  of  April  — 
Innovations  of  Mr.  Kemble  in  "  Macbeth  "  —  The  Bell  —  The 
Dagger  —  The  Ghost  of  Banquo  —  Musical  Witches  — 
Charles  Kemble  —  Securities  from  Fire  —  Reservoir  —  Iron 
Curtain  —  Mere  Tricks  —  The  Vanity  of  Speculative  Science 

—  Mrs.  Jordan  not  Employed  —  Kemble  —  Miss  Farren  Does 
the  Honours  —  Fitzpatrick  —  G.  Colman  —  Mr.  Cumberland's 
Comedy  of  the  "  Jew  "  —  The  Gratitude  of  Israel  —  Kemble's 
"Lodoiska" —  Three  Farces  Three   Days   Together — Mrs. 
Jordan  Acts  for  the  Widows  and  Orphans  Made  on  the  ist 
of  June  —  Three  Farces  Again,  and  for  Four  Days  —  Harris 
versus  Kemble  —  In  the  Summer,  John  Bannister  at  Liver- 
pool—  Winter   of    1794-95  —  Mrs.    Davenport  —  A    Shilling 
Gallery  Put  Up  —  "  Emilia  Galotti "  at  Drury  —  "  Nobody  "  — 
Mrs.  Jordan's  Fright  —  The  "  Rage  "  —  The  "  Wedding  Day  " 
of  Mrs.  Inchbald  —  Mrs.  Jordan's  Portrait  Seen  Again  by  the 
Author,  Forty   Years  after  It  Was   Painted  —  Her   Helena 

—  "  Measure  for  Measure  "  —  Miss  Mellon  —  Mrs.  Coutts  — 
The    Duchess  —  Miss    Arne  — "  Alexander    the    Great,"    a 
Ballet. 

i HE  architect  of  the  Grand  National 
Theatre,  language  suited  to  the  revolu- 
tionary ideas  then  prevailing,  had  en- 
tirely, here,  given  up  the  plan  on  which  he  had 
constructed  the  Theatre  Royal,  Covent  Garden, 

235 


236  MRS.   JORDAN 

which  displayed,  internally,  a  sort  of  Dutch  bulge 
to  its  tiers  of  boxes,  not  unlike  the  marine  style  of 
that  solid  people.  He  aimed  at  the  substantial 
where  his  space  was  confined,  and  at  the  light  and 
lofty  where  he  had  no  limitations  but  his  own  feel- 
ing. Looking  to  the  long-established  characters 
of  the  two  companies,  one  might  have  expected 
him  to  reverse  such  an  arrangement,  and  bestow 
his  levity  on  Mr.  Harris.  However,  the  facts 
admit  of  no  question  ;  they  have  both  experienced 
the  same  fate  —  not  a  vestige  of  either  theatre 
remains. 

The  new  Drury  had  very  little  frontage  to  its 
boxes,  and  the  divisions  between  them  were  only 
shoulder  high,  so  that  there  was  no  difficulty  in 
being  seen  or  seeing.  The  covings  of  the  upper 
tier  were  lofty  arches  of  the  pointed  order.  There 
were  eight  private  boxes  on  the  stage,  and  eight 
dull  and  inconvenient  slips,  also  called  private,  on 
each  side  of  the  pit.  It  was  at  times  difficult  to 
keep  the  standers  in  the  pit  from  trespassing 
on  their  fronts,  and  their  hats,  and  sometimes 
greatcoats,  on  a  wet  evening,  made  the  secluded 
gentry  doubtful  whether  they  could  enjoy  their 
privilege  unmolested.  The  tiers  were  not  left 
without  some  seeming  support,  and  the  most 


MRS.  JORDAN  237 

delicate  candelabra  of  cast  iron,  fluted,  and  silver 
lacquered,  resting  on  the  most  elegant  feet,  at 
intervals  satisfied  both  the  fancy  and  the  eye. 
Well  relieved  cameos,  by  Rebecca,  ornamented 
the  fronts  of  the  boxes ;  the  designs,  which,  how- 
ever, could  not  be  inspected,  were  from  Ovid. 
The  four  tiers  of  boxes,  light  as  they  seemed, 
would  absolutely  contain  1,828  persons;  the  pit, 
800 ;  the  two  shilling  gallery,  675  ;  and  the  shil- 
ling summit,  or  Olympus,  308 ;  making  a  grand 
total  of  3,6 1 1  persons,  who,  if  they  all  paid,  sent 
no  less  a  sum  than  ^826  6s.  into  the  treasury  for 
one  night's  amusement.  I  hesitate  not  to  say  that 
there  was  comfort  in  every  part  of  this  theatre. 
Mr.  Holland  had  not  crippled  his  gallery  friends 
by  any  necessity  for  stooping  that  they  might  see. 
The  beautiful  dome  over  the  pit  was  positively  at 
the  height  of  fifty-six  feet  and  a  half  from  its  floor. 
The  pit  itself  had  twenty-five  seats,  and  its  depth 
from  the  orchestra  was  fifty-four  feet ;  its  width, 
from  side-box  to  side-box,  forty-six  feet.  The 
curtain  on  the  stage  measured  a  space  of  forty- 
three  feet,  and  its  height  was  thirty-eight  feet. 
All  this  gives  an  impression  of  vastness,  which 
was  never  felt  inside ;  and  there  was  a  peculiarity 
about  this  edifice  that  took  away  the  chilling  effect 


238  MRS.   JORDAN 

when  subjected  sometimes  to  a  thin  audience :  a 
few  persons  could  seem  to  people  the  structure. 

The  exterior  of  this  theatre  was  never  com- 
pleted. To  put  the  house  in  a  condition  to  admit 
the  public  was  the  one  thing  needful ;  what  re- 
mained could  be  revived  from  time  to  time  as 
a  subject  of  conversation,  and  dropped  when  it 
had  answered  the  purpose  of  a  "  note  of  prepara- 
tion "  for  the  annual  opening.  But,  indeed,  to 
give  room  for  the  whole  design,  the  neighbour- 
hood ought  to  have  been  changed,  and  the  street 
thrown  back  to  the  north,  and  the  miserable 
courts  to  the  south  swept  away.  To  the  west 
only  is  there  even  tolerably  free  access  for 
carriages. 

After  a  reasonable  course  of  sacred  music  in 
Lent,  always  improper  as  amusement,  this  theatre, 
on  the  2 1st  of  April,  opened  for  its  legitimate 
objects,  and  the  great  object  of  Kemble's  policy, 
as  well  as  taste,  the  representation  of  Shake- 
speare's tragedies,  and  the  sterling  comedies  of 
every  age,  produced  with  suitable  care  and  im- 
provements, and  followed  by  entertainments  which 
should  not  disgrace  them.  He  thus  established 
Mrs.  Siddons  and  himself  in  full  scenic  sover- 
eignty, and  if  circumstances  should  ever  provoke 


MRS.   JORDAN  239 

him  to  throw  up  the  management,  a  thing  not 
beyond  probability,  the  more  desirable  because  less 
responsible  predominance  as  to  the  staple  of  the 
theatre  remained  in  Mr.  Kemble  and  his  family. 
The  present  stage  required  scenery  certainly  thirty- 
four  feet  in  height,  and  about  forty-two  feet  in 
width,  so  that  an  entire  suite  of  new  scenes  was 
essential  on  great  occasions,  though  where  display 
was  not  material  the  old  pieced  flats  might  be  run 
on  still,  and  the  huge  gaps  between  them  and  the 
wings  filled  up  by  any  other  scenes  drawn  forward 
merely  "  to  keep  the  wind  away." 

Dress,  too,  was  now  become  a  matter  of  no 
slight  moment ;  the  costume  was  to  be  accurate, 
which  was  not  expensive,  and  the  materials  were 
to  be  genuine,  not  imitative,  which  certainly  was 
expensive,  and  very  heavily  so.  Mr.  Kemble  had 
studied  Macbeth  for  the  occasion  as  though  the 
play  had  never  been  done  before.  As  to  the 
Thane  of  Glamis,  he  set  at  nought  the  prescrip- 
tive manner  of  Garrick  and  others,  along  with  his 
dress,  and  merely  inquired  of  the  poet,  and  no 
doubt  fancied  him  to  whisper  to  his  slumbers,  how 
he  would  now  direct  his  sublimest  effort  to  be  per- 
formed. The  first  innovation,  of  any  moment,  was 
in  the  soliloquy  preceding  the  murder.  Here  he 


240  MRS.   JORDAN 

altered  two  points,  one  of  action,  and  the  other 
of  stage  direction.  Macbeth  is  on  the  stage,  a 
servant  attending  with  a  torch : 

11  Macb.     Go  bid  thy  mistress,  when  my  drink  is  ready, 
She  strike  upon  the  bell.     Get  thee  to  bed." 

And  the  servant  goes  out  to  do  so.  Now  this 
appears  to  have  been  a  signal  previously  agreed 
upon,  at  the  hearing  which  Macbeth  was  to  know 
that  his  undaunted  partner  had  prepared  every- 
thing for  his  hand ;  and  the  bell's  ringing  would 
excite  no  other  attention,  the  servant  having  been 
told  that  it  was  to  announce  the  spiced  cup,  taken 
always  the  last  thing  before  retiring  for  the  night. 
Macbeth  knew  that  he  was  to  despatch  Duncan 
with  the  daggers  of  his  very  attendants,  and  his 
lady  had  placed  them  before  him  when  he  entered 
the  royal  apartment.  This  was  working,  naturally, 
upon  Macbeth's  imagination  while  he  remains 
waiting  the  signal  agreed  upon.  Hear  what  he 
fancies : 

"  Macb.     Is  this  a  dagger,  which  I  see  before  me, 
The  handle  toward  my  hand  ?     Come,  let  me  clutch  thee. 
I  have  thee  not,  and  yet  I  see  thee  still." 

He  anxiously  questions  the  nature  of  that  which 
eludes  his  grasp,  and  yet  waves  before  his  eye : 


MRS.   JORDAN  241 

41 1  see  thee  yet,  in  form  as  palpable 
As  this  which  now  I  draw. 
Thou  marshal'st  me  the  way  that  I  was  going, 
And  such  an  instrument  I  was  to  use." 

Mr.  Kemble  here  drew  half-way  out  of  the 
scabbard  the  sword  he  wore;  not  the  dagger, 
which  was  more  constantly  the  companion  of  a 
chieftain's  person.  He  would  not  see  that  "  this  " 
was  this  dagger,  and  that,  though  "such  an  in- 
strument he  was  to  use,"  it  did  not  follow  it  was 
to  be  his  own,  which  at  the  moment  was  only 
drawn  to  contrast  corporeity  with  mere  form. 
After  satisfying  himself  that  the  bloody  business 
alone  had  thus  deceived  his  sight,  Macbeth  falls 
into  the  accompanying  terrors  of  "night  and 
silence  ; "  and  at  length  "  a  bell  rings,"  as  we  are 
told  in  the  only  original  copy  of  the  play,  and  he 
himself  adds,  "  The  bell  invites  me."  Mr.  Kemble 
found  in  the  raving  slumbers  of  Lady  Macbeth  the 
words  "  One,  two  —  why,  then,  'tis  time  to  do  it ;  " 
upon  which  he  took  the  clock  for  the  warning,  and 
adopted  it  as  a  more  striking  signal,  and  begetting 
a  more  awful  attention  in  the  audience.  He  was 
here  decidedly  wrong ;  no  signal  could  be  adopted 
between  them  of  which  Lady  Macbeth  had  not 
the  absolute  command,  and  though  the  time  for 


242  MRS.  JORDAN 

doing  the  deed  might  be  about  two  of  the  clock, 
the  "  moment  of  it "  depended  upon  complete 
readiness,  which  could  not  be  announced  till  it  was 
perceived.  The  old  manner  of  doing  this  is  there- 
fore right.  For  when  "Time,  with  his  hours, 
should  strike  two,"  who  can  tell  what  might  have 
occurred  ?  The  ominous  owl  might  have  excited 
at  least  Duncan's  attention,  who  seems  not  to 
have  been  drugged,  like  his  servile  attendants. 
The  rocking  earth  had  aroused  some  of  the  guests, 
and  the  falling  chimneys  Lennox  and  others.  Lady 
Macbeth  was  to  be  sure  of  no  impediment  in  the 
royal  apartment,  and  to  make  the  signal  only  on 
such  a  certainty ;  nay,  with  all  her  care,  Macbeth, 
as  he  approached,  heard  two  of  the  attendants 
"wake  each  other,"  and  stood  "listening  their 
fear  "  until  sleep  again  befriended  the  murderer. 
The  other  point  did  not  rest  solely  on  Mr. 
Kemble's  authority.  Lloyd,  the  poet,  in  1761, 
in  his  "Actor,"  that  dawn  of  the  Rosciad,  thus 
reproves  the  old  practice  of  placing  Banquo  in  the 
seat  of  Macbeth  : 

"  When  chilling  horrors  shake  the  affrighted  king, 
And  guilt  torments  him  with  her  scorpion  sting  ; 
When  keenest  feelings  at  his  bosom  pull, 
And  fancy  tells  him  that  the  seat  is  full ; 


MRS.  JORDAN  243 

Why  need  the  ghost  usurp  the  monarch's  place, 
To  frighten  children  with  his  mealy  face  ? 
The  king  alone  should  form  the  phantom  there, 
And  talk  and  tremble  at  the  vacant  chair." 

I  have  already  said  that  I  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  ridiculous  mode  of  scenic  effect.  The 
only  question  is  what  Shakespeare  himself  in- 
tended, and  how,  without  the  disappearance  and 
return  of  the  phantom,  we  are  to  reconcile  the 
almost  momentary  alarm  of  Macbeth  a  second 
time,  when  he  had  expelled  the  intruder,  and, 
being  gone,  found  himself  again  a  man  ?  When 
his  reason  and  his  courage  have  once  triumphed 
over  vacancy,  how  can  fancy  so  soon  repeople  the 
void  ?  If  the  answer  be  that  preternatural  power 
alarms  the  imagination  here,  it  may  as  well  amaze 
the  faculty  of  eyes  and  ears ;  but  the  spectators 
have  no  means  but  sight  of  judging  what  is 
fancied  by  the  starting  murderer.  In  the  pres- 
ent case  he  might  fancy  Duncan  in  the  regal  seat 
even  more  naturally  than  Banquo.  But  the  poet's 
own  direction  ought  for  ever  to  silence  all  doubt : 

"Enter  the  ghost  of  Banquo,  and  sits  in  Macbeth' 's  place." 

—  Folio  i  1623. 

When  he  has  laid  his  perturbation  to  an  infirm- 
ity to  which  he  had  long  been  subject,  and,  re- 


244  MRS.   JORDAN 

covering  heart,  orders  some  wine  to  be  filled,  that 
he  may  drink  his  wishes  for  Banquo's  presence 
and  the  general  joy,  our  genuine  play  again  marks 
the  entrance  and  the  place  —  thus,  Enter  Gtwst. 
We  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  philosophy  of 
the  question,  whatever  it  may  be,  but  ought 
to  give  absolute  visible  appearance,  at  least 
to  an  age  that  did  not  doubt  the  possibility  of  it. 
The  imagination  here  is  in  the  poet,  not  the 
character. 

There  were  sundry  other  novelties,  perhaps  re- 
vivals, as  to  the  witches  and  their  incantations  ; 
indeed  the  noble  firmness  and  compactness  of 
the  action  was  dreadfully  broken  and  attenuated 
by  the  vast  crowds  of  witches  and  spirits  that 
filled  the  stage,  and  thundered  in  the  ear  a  music 
of  dire  potency.  The  auxiliary  injured  the  princi- 
pal, and  Matthew  Locke  became  the  rival  of  his 
master.  Mere  speech,  however  masterly,  is  weak 
upon  the  ear  after  the  noise  (call  it  harmony  if 
you  will)  of  a  full  orchestra,  and  perhaps  fifty 
voices,  with  difficulty  kept  together  in  tolerable 
time  and  tune.  But  with  great  readiness  I  sub- 
mit to  that  public  decision,  which  has  declared 
this  play,  so  furnished,  the  most  attractive  of  all 
dramatic  representations. 


MRS.   JORDAN  245 

I  have  already  noticed  the  musical  junto,  which, 
by  a  continual  intercourse  with  Sheridan,  consti- 
tuted no  inferior  power  to  that  of  the  manager, 
and  so  much  outlay  could  not  perhaps  have  been 
obtained  for  tragedy,  unless  it  had  embraced 
the  strong  plea  of  combination,  and  employed  the 
singers  of  the  theatre.  On  every  other  occasion, 
the  efforts  were  commonly  made  for  opera,  now 
growing  into  a  passion  among  us,  fatal  to  the 
genuine  produce  of  our  drama. 

It  was  on  this  night  that  Charles  Kemble, 
happily  rescued  from  the  post-office,  commenced 
in  the  trivial  part  of  Malcolm  his  profession  of  an 
actor.  He  had  the  same  preparation  as  his  brother, 
a  classical  education,  and  though  he  shares  the 
personal  advantages  of  his  family,  seems  to  act 
fairly  from  himself.  Not  so  naturally  gifted  for 
tragedy  as  his  great  brother,  he  is  excellent  in 
many  first-rate  characters  of  the  serious  muse, 
and,  in  comedy,  he  assumes  a  rank  between  the 
deliberate,  studied  politeness  of  Palmer,  and  the 
rattling  caricature  of  a  gentleman  which  sat  so 
delightfully  upon  Lewis. 

We  have  still  something  more  to  say  as  to  the 
new  theatre.  The  not  distant  destruction  of  the 
Opera  House  by  fire  had  excited  the  attention 


246  MRS.   JORDAN 

of  scientific  men  to  the  subject ;  and  as  they  could 
not  do  much  in  the  way  of  prevention,  since  it  is 
and  will  be  the  "property  of  fire  to  burn,"  they 
exhausted  themselves,  in  case  of  accident,  in 
modes  by  which  the  flames  might  be  locally  extin- 
guished, and  the  audience,  in  the  meantime,  cut 
off  from  the  stage,  and,  in  perfect  safety,  either 
wait  the  result,  or  quietly  and  without  precipitation 
walk  out  of  the  theatre.  But  the  mistake  in  all 
these  structures  is  the  communication  of  the  boxes 
themselves  with  the  stage,  and  the  vent  afforded 
by  the  circling  passages  of  the  respective  tiers. 
These  should  certainly  be  cut  off  by  division-walls 
to  the  very  roof,  reaching  from  the  external  walls 
of  the  theatre  to  the  frontispiece,  and  a  strong 
division  be  also  made  in  the  very  roof  itself,  so 
that  the  whole  roof  could  never  be  on  fire,  nor 
all  of  it  fall  in  at  the  same  time.  An  iron  curtain 
to  drop  down,  and  a  reservoir,  with  pipes  to  play 
on,  in  all  the  passages,  were  tricks  to  amuse 
children  in  such  matters.  While  the  audience  is 
in  a  theatre,  and  all  is  stir  and  vigilance  in  the 
building,  all  the  popular  danger  is  from  them- 
selves. Give  them  plenty  of  exits,  and  you  do 
all  you  can  do ;  but  carelessness,  either  by  day 
or  night,  in  the  workmen  or  watchmen  of  a  play- 


MRS.   JORDAN  247 

house,  are  the  true  things  to  guard  against.  Here 
to  care  nothing  about  expense  is  salvation  to  the 
concern. 

However,  something  to  excite  talk  and  curiosity 
merely  may  be  excused ;  I  mean  if  we  should 
even  be  of  opinion  that  such  men  as  Sheridan, 
and  Holland,  and  Kemble,  had  really  slender  faith 
in  any  of  the  inventions  that  time  so  severely  tried 
and  found  wanting.  Mrs.  Jordan  had  no  share  in 
the  opening  of  the  new  house,  so  that  Kemble 
and  Miss  Farren  did  the  honours  of  the  house- 
warming.  A  Whig  prologue,  written  by  Fitz- 
patrick,  talked  a  long  while  about  the  French 
Revolution,  and  at  length  brought  out  that  this 
building  was  reared  in  honour  to  somebody,  and 
was  — 

"  The  silent  tribute  of  surviving  woe." 

Ten  lines  further  on  the  silence  or  the  secret 
ended,  and  it  came  broadly  before  us  in  the  "  glo- 
ries of  Shakespeare's  scene."  At  that  word  the 
audience  used  their  hands,  and  Mr.  Kemble  made 
his  bow.  Miss  Farren  had  another  sort  of  task. 
George  Colman  wrote  a  pleasant  account  of  all 
the  overdoings  he  so  much  despised,  and  he  was 
both  pointed  and  intelligible.  Miss  Farren,  though 
a  weak  speaker  of  rhyme  and  poetry  at  all  times, 


248  MRS.   JORDAN 

exerted  herself  on  this  brilliant  occasion,  and  was 
loudly  cheered.  He  will  really  dispute  the  point 
with  me,  but  except  as  to  "  Terence,"  I  prefer  his 
dramatic  works  to  his  father's  —  Mr.  Colman,  the 
younger,  has  the  stronger  mind. 

"  Macbeth  "  was  repeated  on  the  four  following 
nights,  and  yet  twice  more  before  the  end  of  the 
month,  and  on  the  2d,  5th,  and  7th  of  May.  On 
the  8th  Mr.  Cumberland's  comedy  of  the  "Jew" 
was  acted  for  the  first  time,  of  which  Bannister,  Jr., 
was  the  benevolent  Israelite.  "  I  am  ashamed  to 
say  (Mr.  C.  writes)  with  what  rapidity  I  despatched 
that  hasty  composition."  He  showed  it  to  Ban- 
nister act  by  act  as  he  wrote  it.  Indeed,  to  my  old 
friend  it  was  a  treasure  just  then,  because  it  gave 
him  the  lead  in  a  successful  play,  and  prevented 
him  from  being  smothered  by  the  tragedies  of 
Shakespeare,  or  confined  to  farce.  When  Charles 
Surface  was  ill  (says  Sheridan),  the  Jews  put  up 
prayers  for  him  in  the  synagogue,  and  some  such 
tributary  unexpensive  acknowledgments  might  now 
have  been  made  by  the  Goldsmids  and  the  Solo- 
mons to  Mr.  Cumberland.  Of  anything  more 
solid  they  have  hardly  been  accused.  They  have 
never  much  encouraged  the  theatres,  except  from 
a  love  of  music ;  and  then  the  singers  were  Jews 


MRS.   JORDAN  249 

—  Leoni  and  Braham.  Mr.  Cumberland  deplores 
the  "  ridicule  and  contempt "  with  which  they  had 
been  treated  on  the  stage,  till  Sheva,  as  I  presume 
he  thought,  did  them  justice.  Their  character  is 
retrievable  when  Sheva  is  not  extraordinary  among 
them ;  in  the  meantime,  they  who  worship  mam- 
mon so  exclusively  may  pass  through  a  fire  of  wit 
to  their  "  grim  idol  "  without  any  severe  mortifi- 
cation. 

On  the  Qth  of  June  Mr.  Kemble  brought  out 
an  afterpiece  with  music,  which  he  had  himself 
translated  from  the  French,  called  "  Lodoiska." 
There  was  the  usual  love  incident  for  Kelly  and 
Crouch,  and  a  band  of  Tartars  with  Barrymore 
at  their  head,  who  profited  greatly  by  the  march- 
ing orders  which  the  manager  knew  so  well  how 
to  carry,  by  doing  the  business  himself  before 
them.  He  got  everybody  readily  to  act  parts  in 
it,  and  in  dress,  and  scenery,  and  music  it  was  a 
perfect,  spirited  thing.  Cumberland,  now  all  ac- 
quiescence, cut  away  an  act  from  his  "Natural 
Son  ; "  and  this  four-act  play  and  an  entertain- 
ment were  then  thought  sufficient  amusement  for 
the  evening.  The  want  of  Mrs.  Jordan  began 
now  to  be  felt ;  Mrs.  Siddons  had  not  acted  after 
the  first  week  of  June,  and  Kemble's  management 


250  MRS.   JORDAN 

the  three  last  days  of  the  month  was  disgraced  by 
three  farces,  which  I  preserve  as  the  severest 
degradation  that  the  great  national  theatre  could 
feel. 

2/th.  The  "Children  in  the  Wood"  —  "Bon 
Ton  "  —  "  Lodoiska." 

28th.  The  "  Liar  "  --  "  Lodoiska  "  —  "  My 
Grandmother." 

30th.  The  "  Children  in  the  Wood  "  —  "High 
Life  Below"  —  "Lodoiska." 

The  2d  of  July  was  devoted  to  the  benefit  of 
the  widows  and  children  of  the  brave  men  who 
perished  in  Lord  Howe's  victory  of  the  ist  of 
June.  Mrs.  Jordan,  with  the  hearty  consent  of  her 
illustrious  naval  admirer,  volunteered  her  only 
performance  of  the  Country  Girl  that  season ; 
Cobb,  one  of  the  readiest  and  most  ingenious  men 
that  I  have  ever  known  in  theatres,  ran  together  a 
sort  of  second  part  of  "  No  Song  no  Supper,"  very 
eagerly  taken  by  the  house,  which  distinguished 
itself  this  evening  by  a  sea-fight,  that  showed  all 
the  capabilities  of  the  stage  as  to  scenery  and 
machinery.  The  spectators  coughed  and  enjoyed 
the  powder.  Richardson  wrote  a  very  beautiful 
prologue  for  the  night,  and  Kemble  spoke  it.  On 
another  occasion,  —  and  why  not  this  ?  —  The 


MRS.  JORDAN  251 

couplet   which   follows   I   have   marked  as   tran- 
scendently  fortunate. 

"  Glory  itself  at  such  a  shrine  may  bow, 
And  what  is  glory  but  a  name  for  Howe  ?  " 

On  the  3d,  4th,  5th,  and  7th  of  the  month,  the 
town  accepted  of  three  farces  as  above,  the  "  First 
of  June"  concluding  each  evening's  entertainment. 

The  following  season  had  at  least  a  better  esti- 
mate to  guide  it  of  the  real  force  necessary  in  a 
company;  some  of  the  gas  had  escaped,  and  the 
grand  machine  was  brought  nearer  to  the  earth. 

Besides,  Covent  Garden  Theatre  had  closed 
early  in  June,  to  have  time  for  her  projected  alter- 
ations ;  for  the  New  Drury  appeared  so  captivat- 
ing, that  nothing  but  change  had  any  chance  with 
it,  and  Mr,  Harris  was  not  a  man  to  be  easily 
frightened,  nor  to  slumber  in  a  false  security.  He 
knew  his  rival  thoroughly,  and  with  all  his  Hercu- 
lean strength,  ventured  to  predict  that  he  should 
beat  him,  though  he  possessed  the  Siddons,  the 
Farren,  and  the  Jordan. 

In  the  summer  of  1 794,  the  Haymarket  Theatre 
"lost  half  its  soul"  —  John  Bannister  went  to 
Liverpool,  and  Charles  Kemble  and  Fawcett  to- 
gether supported  his  share  of  serious  and  comic 


252  MRS.  JORDAN 

business.  The  author  of  "No  Song  no  Supper" 
wrote  an  occasional  address  for  Bannister,  which 
enumerated  all  the  parts  in  which  he  was  cele- 
brated, and  to  assist  frail  memory,  I  will  here  run 
them  over,  —  Lenitive,  Walter,  Sheva,  Robin, 
Trudge,  Scout,  Jacob,  Philpot,  Gradus,  Vapour. 
But  such  a  list  is  itself  a  proud  testimony  of  the 
actor's  merit.  He  was,  in  fact,  the  inspiring 
genius  of  our  farce  writers.  Liverpool  did  him 
full  justice,  and  they  were  no  mean  judges  there 
of  good  acting. 

Colman,  this  summer,  was  furiously  attacked 
for  playing  three  farces  nightly  at  his  theatre; 
now,  the  fact  is,  that  summer  amusement,  like 
summer  clothing,  should  never  be  heavy,  and  there 
such  arrangements  were  more  than  excusable ;  they 
were,  in  some  sort,  preferable.  At  the  winter 
theatres,  with  their  extensive  companies,  such  tri- 
fling should  vacate  the  patent.  But  the  New  Drury 
at  that  time  stood  remarkably  well  with  the  daily 
press. 

On  the  24th  of  September,  1794,  Mrs.  Daven- 
port, an  actress  of  infinite  talent,  made  her  first 
appearance  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  in  which 
she  acted  six  and  thirty  years.  She  came  to  Lon- 
don as  a  substitute  for  Mrs.  Webb;  but  the  sub- 


MRS.   JORDAN  253 

stitute,  like  the  soldier  so  called  in  the  militia,  was 
infinitely  more  fit  for  the  duty  than  the  overgrown 
original  had  ever  been.  She  had  a  very  acute  per- 
ception of  comic  humour,  and  a  strength  and  ear- 
nestness that  always  carried  the  dialogue  home. 
Her  d<£but  was  in  the  Mrs.  Hardcastle  of  "  She 
Stoops  to  Conquer."  Quick,  among  our  actors, 
seemed  her  natural  counterpart.  I  believe  this 
lady,  in  her  long  professional  career,  gave  less 
trouble  than  had  ever  been  remarked,  to  either 
manager,  actor,  or  author  —  she  loved  her  busi- 
ness, and  did  it  well  and  cheerfully.  While  thus 
remembering  the  new  actress  at  the  rival  house,  I 
must  not  forget  the  new  face  which  the  theatre 
itself  now  wore.  The  original  deficiency  of  a  one- 
shilling  gallery  was  only  to  be  palliated,  not  cured  : 
part  of  the  pit  ceiling  was  cut  away,  to  allow  of  a 
slope  view  of  the  stage,  and  the  manager  persuaded 
himself  to  think  all  well ;  but  as  to  his  galleries, 
he  was  greatly  inferior  to  his  wiser  rival.  He  had, 
however,  given  to  his  boxes  an  appearance  of  solid 
richness  —  his  linings,  and  cappings,  and  gilding, 
and  ornaments  were  good,  and  everything  done 
that  could  be  done,  within  the  old  walls,  and  under 
the  old  roof.  His  judicious  adoption  of  temporary 
light  comedy,  with  such  writers  as  O'Keefe,  Hoi- 


254  MRS.   JORDAN 

croft,  Reynolds,  and  afterward  Morton,   brought 
him  great  profits. 

The  Drury  Lane  season  of  1794-95  commenced 
rather  inauspiciously.  I  cannot,  at  this  distance, 
recollect  whose  translation  Mr.  Kemble  used  of 
Lessing's  "  Emilia  Galotti,"  but  it  was  acted  only 
four  times,  and  exhibited  Mrs.  Siddons  in  a  new 
character  to  little  purpose.  Cumberland  wrote  a 
prologue  to  it,  and  Colman  an  epilogue,  neither  of 
them  in  danger  of  preservation,  unless  the  follow- 
ing argument  for  the  king's  humanity,  which  did 
not  need  one,  be  destined  to  rival  the  Oxonian 
pleasantry  of  Doctor  Johnson  : ' 

11  Is  he  to  ruin  others'  children  prone, 
Who  has  —  so  many  children  of  his  own  ?" 

Mrs.  Robinson  this  season  added  to  the  failures 
of  the  commencement  a  two-act  comedy  called 
"  Nobody."  An  actress  formerly  herself,  she  had 
influence  enough  to  bring  the  following  ladies  to- 
gether in  so  mere  a  trifle.  I  remember  the  delight 

1 "  Who  drives  fat  oxen,  should  himself  be  fat." 

As  to  the  king's  humanity,  I  find  it  questioned  by  the  Whig 
critic  in  such  matters,  Coke  of  Norfolk  ;  on  whose  authority 
history  is  to  style  that  excellent  man  "  the  worst  who  ever  sat 
upon  a  throne,"  and  meriting  the  title  of  the  "bloody  king." 
His  hearers,  it  appears,  hooted  the  critic  down ;  perhaps  another 
sort  of  prostration  might  have  been  preferable.  —  Oct.  1830. 


MRS.  JORDAN  255 

she  expressed  at  Mrs.  Jordan's  heading  the  list, 
followed  by  Mrs.  Goodall,  Miss  Pope,  Miss  Collins, 
Miss  Heard,  and  Miss  Decamp.  I  cannot  detail 
the  incidents,  but  I  know  well  that  to  have  great 
names  for  trivial  business  is  certain  death  to  any 
author.  The  spectators  soon  see  that  the  per- 
formers are  discontented  in  their  situations,  and  if 
they  condescend  to  them  in  mere  kindness,  it  is 
the  unkindest  thing  they  can  do.  The  audience 
soon  avenge  their  complaisance  upon  the  writer  of 
the  piece  ;  what  he  courted  for  his  support  shrinks 
from  the  voluntary  task,  and  he  falls,  good  easy 
man,  from  his  confidence  in  hollow  professions. 

Our  dear  Mrs.  Jordan  had  powers  of  kindness 
equal  to  her  other  gifts ;  but  she  was  not  made  for 
a  storm,  and  grew  pitiably  nervous  if  the  house 
showed  marks  of  displeasure  and  contest,  which 
they  liberally  or  illiberally  did  in  abundance  on  the 
present  occasion.  One  might  have  supposed  Mrs. 
Robinson  prescient  of  her  fate  by  her  epilogue,  for 
Mrs.  Jordan  hurried  on  to  address  the  audience  in 
the  words  following  :  "  Half  dead  and  scarce  recov- 
ered from  my  fright."  Recovered !  she  was  so 
far  from  being  recovered  that  she  only  repeated 
twenty  lines  out  of  the  epilogue,  that  had  no  con- 
nection with  each  other;  and  the  authoress  was 


256  MRS.  JORDAN 

indignant  with  manager,  actress,  proprietor,  and 
even  the  public  for  not  embalming  "  Nobody."  It 
had  a  prologue  as  well  as  an  epilogue,  for  mere 
verse  cost  her  nothing.  The  piece  was  tried 
again,  but  "  who  can  revive  the  dead  ? " 

Mrs.  Robinson  was  a  good  deal  connected  with 
newspapers ;  and  as  her  lameness  confined  her  to 
the  chair  when  at  home,  she  was  constantly  writ- 
ing, and  tolerably  free  in  her  remarks.  This 
always  operates  mischievously  upon  the  mind  of 
an  actor,  who  is  quite  sure  that  the  writer  turned 
dramatist  will  visit  failure  upon  anything  rather 
than  his  piece  —  that,  in  fact,  had  passed  his  tri- 
bunal before. 

While  this  novelty  was  thus  vainly,  perhaps  not 
seriously,  tried  at  Drury,  Mr.  Harris  brought  out 
another  comedy,  by  Reynolds,  which  gave  a  name 
to  its  own  success,  the  "  Rage."  Their  houses 
were  much  richer  than  was  ever  expected  by  the 
manager  of  Drury  Lane.  However,  Mrs.  Inch- 
bald,  almost  wedded  to  Covent  Garden,  now  wrote 
a  farce  for  Mrs.  Jordan,  in  which  I  saw  her  with 
infinite  pleasure.  It  followed  "  Emilia  Galotti," 
on  the  ist  of  November,  1794,  and  was  called  the 
"  Wedding  Day."  The  scenes  between  Sir  Adam 
Contest  (King)  and  Lady  Contest  (Mrs.  Jordan) 


MRS.  JORDAN  257 

display  some  of  the  most  pointed  language  in  the 
drama,  and  Mrs.  Inchbald  fashioned  every  line  to 
her  peculiar  manner  of  utterance.  The  interest 
was  in  a  first  wife's  unexpected  return  on  the  very 
day  that  her  old  man  had  again  united  himself  to 
a  girl  of  eighteen.  The  new  couple  were  of  the 
Teazle  family,  well  lowered  to  farce.  It  was  in 
this  piece  that  Mrs.  Jordan  introduced  one  of  the 
wonders  of  her  ballad  style,  "  In  the  Dead  of  the 
Night,"  and  Cupid  knocked  at  the  window,  very 
successfully,  of  every  creature  who  heard  her  sing 
it.  It  was  almost  as  powerful  as  the  Andromeda 
of  Euripides,  at  Abdera ;  every  man  almost  spoke, 
however,  not  iambics,  but  anapaests  : 

"  Cupid  knock'd  at  my  window,  disturbing  my  rest." 

"  In  every  mouth,  like  the  natural  notes  of  some  sweet 
melo  dy,  which  drops  from  whether  it  will  or  no  —  noth- 
ing but  Cupid,  Cupid !  The  whole  city,  like  the  heart  of 
one  man,  opened  itself  to  love." 

I  think  one  of  our  occult  sages  once  wrote  a  book 
called  "  Natural  Magic ; "  this  lady  had  by  heart 
the  whole  volume.  The  melody  of  her  voice  can- 
not be  revived ;  but  I,  this  very  morning,  had  her 
person  and  action  brought  truly  before  me  by 
a  deliberate  inspection  of  the  portrait  which  the 


258  MRS.   JORDAN 

admirable  Romney  painted  of  her  in  the  "  Country 
Girl."  It  is  very  properly  in  the  possession  of 
Colonel  Fitzclarence,  and  he  may  well  be  proud 
of  such  a  treasure.  There  is  rather  more  back 
than  we  should  now  show  in  lady  portraits,  but  it 
is  perfect  as  to  likeness,  and  just  as  naTve  as  it 
was  proper  to  exhibit  her  on  canvas,  where  the 
expression  cannot  change.  It  is  a  figure  so  de- 
lightful altogether  that  Benedick  only  can  express 
the  feeling  it  excites  : 

«« I  will  live  in  thy  eyes,  die  in  thy  lap,  and  be  buried  in  thy 
heart." 

"  Pray,  sir,"  said  a  young  lady  to  me,  "  was  Mrs. 
Jordan  critically  handsome  ? "  My  answer  was 
the  absolute  truth :  "  Dear  madam,  had  you  seen 
her  as  I  did,  the  question  would  never  have 
occurred  to  you  !  " 

On  the  1 2th  of  December,  Mr.  Kemble  revived 
"All's  Well  that  Ends  Well,"  by  Shakespeare, 
and  acted  Bertram  himself,  but  too  ill  to  do  any- 
thing. Mrs.  Jordan  had  here  the  trouble  of  study- 
ing Helena,  and  curing  the  King  (Mr.  Bensley)  of 
a  ridiculous  disorder,  and  for  a  single  night's  per- 
formance. There  is  but  one  scene  that  can  act 
upon  a  large  stage,  that  of  Parolles  and  his  drum, 


MRS.   JORDAN  259 

with  which  Bannister  made  some  amusement ; 
au  reste  there  was  the  beauty  of  Miss  Miller  pro- 
moted from  the  choruses,  and  Mrs.  Powell  for 
the  venerable  Countess,  who  detects  the  passion 
of  Helena  for  her  son ;  but  not  a  hand  was  raised 
in  their  favour,  so  that  all  was  not  well,  and  could 
not  end  well,  for  it  was  not  repeated.  Opera  now 
took  its  turn,  and  the  indefatigable  Cobb  brought 
out  his  "Cherokee,"  with  all  the  splendours  of 
scenery,  dress,  and  decoration,  now  squandered  in 
all  directions,  to  the  amazement  of  poor  King, 
who  could  not  command  a  few  yards  of  copper 
lace  in  his  management.  Kemble  put  his  brother 
Charles  through  all  the  ranks  of  the  profession  — 
here  he  was  a  friendly  Indian,  and  coppered  his 
skin,  like  the  great  Barrymore,  and  Messrs.  Sedg- 
wick  and  Caulfield  and  Phillimore.  How  often 
must  he  have  wished  himself  in  the  post-office ! 

"  Uno  avulso  non  deficit  alter."  Not  at  all  hurt 
by  the  fall  of  "  All's  Well,"  on  the  soth  of  Decem- 
ber Kemble  revived  "  Measure  for  Measure,"  with 
Mrs.  Siddons  in  the  towering  virtue  of  Isabella, 
and  himself  in  the  Duke ;  it  remained  on  the  stage 
a  perpetuity,  finely  acted  throughout. 

On  the  3  ist  of  January,  1795,  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Mr.  Kemble,  Miss  Mellon,  the  future  Mrs. 


260  MRS.   JORDAN 

Coutts,  and  the  present  Duchess  of  St.  Albans 
(for  such  fortune  may  well  render  a  man's  style 
giddy),  acted  Lydia  Languish,  in  the  "  Rivals," 
and  obtained  an  engagement  as  an  intended  double 
for  Mrs.  Jordan.  Miss  Farren  had  Mrs.  Goodall 
in  the  same  secondary  station,  and  Bannister,  Jr., 
now  obtained  a  locum  tenens  in  Captain  Wathen, 
who  had  long  figured  in  private  theatricals.  But 
Miss  Mellon  must  not  be  passed  over  so  lightly. 
The  public  do  not  generally  know  that  Coutts  was 
not  the  first  banker  who  had  distinguished  this 
young  actress.  While  she  was  in  Stanton's  com- 
pany, Mr.  Wright,  a  banker  at  Stafford,  showed 
her  great  attention ;  and  it  was  creditable  as  well 
as  valuable,  for  his  wife  and  daughters  concurred 
in  protecting  her.  It  was  there  that  the  member, 
Sheridan,  saw  her,  and  he  might  strengthen  him- 
self abroad  and  at  home  by  giving  her  an  immediate 
engagement  at  Drury  Lane.  He  saw  her  in  two 
of  Mrs.  Jordan's  most  favourite  characters,  Rosa- 
lind and  the  Romp.  She  was  certainly  above 
mediocrity  as  an  actress,  though  I  used  to  think 
too  careless  to  do  all  she  might  have  done.  Her 
figure  was  elegant  in  those  days,  and  there  was  a 
rather  comic  expression  in  her  countenance.  Had 
Jordan  never  appeared,  she  might  have  reached 


\r 


MRS.   JORDAN  261 

the  first  rank,  and,  been  contented  with  her  station 
in  a  theatre ;  few,  in  any  kind  of  miscarriage,  have 
received  such  ample  consolation.  Chance,  itself, 
once  contributed  a  prize  of  ten  thousand  pounds 
to  this  minion  of  "Fortune's  Frolic."  I  think 
there  seems  to  have  been  a  good  deal  of  sagacity 
in  her  conduct :  she  saw  her  object  with  that 
singleness  which  is  necessary  to  all  great  success, 
and  made  her  very  disposition  itself  a  herald  to 
her  elevation.  I  never  thought  her  one  of  those 
who  — 

"  Plan  secret  good,  and  blush  to  find  it  fame." 

But  a  little  ostentation  may  be  pardoned  in  our 
imperfect  virtue. 

The  name  of  Arne  is  dear  to  all  who  love  music  ; 
and  great  hopes  were  entertained  that  the  doctor's 
granddaughter  would  augment  as  a  singer  the 
family  honours,  but  her  voice  proved  too  weak  for 
so  large  a  theatre.  Her  conception  of  Polly  was 
no  doubt  traditional,  Mrs.  Gibber  having  played 
the  character  divinely. 

On  the  i  ith  of  February  M.  d'Egville  brought 
out  his  grand  pantomime  ballet  of  "  Alexander  the 
Great,  or  the  Conquest  of  Persia."  He  here  ex- 
hibited the  general  incidents  of  that  conqueror's 


262  AIRS.  JORDAN 

progress,  his  difficulties  in  surmounting  the  appre- 
hensions and  reluctance  of  his  army,  his  Amazonian 
alliance,  his  furious  impetuosity  at  the  storming  of 
Gaza,  the  battle  of  Arbela,  his  treatment  of  Darius 
and  his  family,  his  triumphant  entrance  into  Baby- 
lon, and  marriage  with  Statira.  Grandeur  and 
magnificence,  splendid  scenery,  graceful,  energetic, 
expressive  action,  characterise  this  ballet  through- 
out. 

I  anticipate  the  reader's  mistake,  who  may  sup- 
pose me  to  have  been  recording  a  triumph  at  the 
Opera  House.  This  performance  was  at  the  New 
Drury,  and  designed  to  show  all  the  capabilities  of 
that  vast  concern.  It  already  rivalled  the  Italian 
Opera  itself,  by  its  possession  of  the  two  Storaces, 
Kelly,  Crouch,  Mrs.  Bland,  and  Doctor  Arnold's 
pupil,  Miss  Leake ;  and  now  ballet  was  added 
to  their  attractions,  and  they  defied  everything 
like  competition.  For  three  months  together  this 
beautiful  exhibition  astonished  and  delighted  the 
public. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Death  of  Parsons  —  His  Peculiar  Merits  —  Holland  and 
Powell  —  Spouting  Clubs  —  Political  Orators — Parsons  and 
the  Lion  —  The  "  Wheel  of  Fortune  "  —  Madame  d'Arblay 
—  Jerningham's  "  Welsh  Heiress,"  Mrs.  Jordan  in  Plinlim- 
mon  —  Drury  Attacking  Its  Own  Splendours  —  Chaos  Umpire 
in  the  Concern  —  "Seven  Ages"  for  Mrs.  Siddons  —  "First 
Love,"  by  Cumberland ;  Sabina  Rosny,  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Her 
Enchanting  Effect  —  Some  Pleasing  Recollections  —  Cum- 
berland's Opinion  of  Her  —  Nature  to  Be  Upheld  by  Mrs. 
Jordan  —  Winter  of  1795-96  —  The  "Dependent"  —  The 
"  Rival  Queens  "  —  Kemble  in  Alexander  —  Mrs.  Jordan  Con- 
fined —  Miss  Decamp  in  Columbine  —  Mrs.  Jordan  in  Fidelia, 
Her  Power  upon  Mr.  Kemble  —  His  Sense  of  Her  Acting  in 
the  "  Plain  Dealer  "  —  Gives  It  to  the  Author  in  the  Words 
of  Sterne  —  The  "Iron  Chest,"  and  Its  Failure  —  Sheridan 
Wished  Mrs.  Jordan  in  That  Play  —  "Vortigern"  Has  That 
Advantage  ;  She  Acts  Flavia  —  Ireland  —  Chatterton  — 
Queen  Elizabeth,  Her  Little  Attention  to  Players  —  Mrs. 
Jordan  Speaks  Merry's  Epilogue  —  Poor  Benson's  Death. 

stage  had  just  now  sustained  a  loss 
which  almost  palsied  comedy  in  the  old 
humourists  of  her  train.  I  allude  to  the 
death  of  Parsons  on  the  3d  of  February,  1795,  in 
the  middle  of  the  season.  He  had  acted  his  inim- 
itable Sir  Fretful  Plagiary  on  the  iQth  of  January, 
with  his  usual  effect,  though  suffering  perceptibly 

263 


264  MRS.   JORDAN 

at  the  time  from  the  asthma,  which  had  long  tor- 
mented him.  He  told  me  that  usquebaugh  re- 
lieved him ;  but  it  quieted  the  irritation  by  slow 
destruction,  and  he  was  almost  a  shadow  when 
he  died.  Nothing  can  be  more  true  than  the 
ungrateful  remark  that,  whatever  be  the  talent, 
the  real  or  the  mimic  world  can  at  least  jog  on 
without  it.  In  the  case  of  Parsons,  I  can  hardly 
now  convince  myself  that  his  place  has  ever  been 
supplied.  I  read  over  the  parts  which  he  made 
his  own,  —  Corbaccio,  Foresight,  Moneytrap,  Don 
Manuel,  Skirmish,  Davy,  Crabtree,  Doiley,  Sir 
Fretful  Plagiary,  Alscrip.  I  find  that  they  still 
are  acted,  and  rejoice  that  I  have  been  mistaken. 
Parsons  was  born  in  the  year  1736,  and  had  just 
completed  his  fifty-ninth  year  when  he  quitted  the 
scene.  He  was  educated  at  St.  Paul's,  and  in- 
tended to  be  an  architect,  but  the  life  of  his  build- 
ing, to  use  Shakespeare's  language,  was  stolen  by 
such  assassins  of  business  as  Holland  and  Powell, 
who  cast  the  rough  honesty  of  Parsons  in  Kent, 
and  figured  away  themselves  in  Mad  Tom  and 
Lear.  However,  when  they  came  from  the  spout- 
ing club  to  the  Little  Theatre  in  1756,  the  adage 
was  verified,  as  to  Parsons,  — 

«•  Thus  safely  low,  my  friend,  thou  canst  not  fall." 


MRS.  JORDAN  265 

He  retained  his  original  Kent  —  but  his  friend 
Powell  dropped  from  Lear  to  the  Bastard,  to 
rise  again  in  good  time  to  the  elevation  of  the 
club. 

The  very  memory  of  a  spouting  club  is  almost 
dead  among  us.  But  it  was  by  no  means  a  useless 
assemblage,  either  as  to  probation  or  amusement. 
In  our  youth  we  have  visited  several,  and  do  not 
think  that  either  business  or  morals  suffered  so 
much  by  them  as  by  the  more  stylish  amusements 
of  the  present  day.  And  if  the  large  rooms  in 
houses  of  public  entertainment  are  to  be  occupied 
by  orators,  rather  than  hear  the  Thelwall's,  the 
Gale  Jones's,  the  Cobbetts,  and  the  Hunts,  with 
the  noisy  company  they  collect  about  them,  our 
choice  is  made  :  let  us  have  the  quiet  refreshment 
"that  cheers  but  not  inebriates,"  and  listen  to 
even  attempts,  that  give  voice  and  action  to  the 
lofty  sense  or  intense  passion  of  Shakespeare  and 
Otway !  Anything  but  this  eternal  destruction  of 
the  poor  world's  peace  by  the  enforcement  of 
speculative  rights,  never  to  be  limited,  and  always 
contested. 

We  beg  pardon  of  the  great  actor's  memory, 
and  return  to  celebrate  his  steady  allegiance  to  a 
theatre  royal.  He  never  could  be  tempted  to 


266  MRS.  JORDAN 

quit  the  standard  of  his  master,  Garrick,  and  he 
passed  as  an  heirloom  into  the  possession  of  Sher- 
idan. 

Architecture  had  made  Parsons  at  least  a 
draughtsman,  and  I  have  seen  some  attempts  in 
oil,  not  contemptible,  from  his  pencil.  Let  me 
bear  witness  to  his  rich  and  singular  power  of 
telling  a  story.  One  of  his  best  has  been  versi- 
fied by  a  very  dear  old  friend,  and  called  "Par- 
sons the  Actor  and  the  Lion ; "  and  it  is  done  as 
well  as  a  very  humourous  pen  can  do  it,  but  the 
face  of  the  actor  must  be  wanting  —  the  manner 
of  him,  whose  toe  had  touched  a  lion  at  the  bed's 
foot  —  the  shaggy  mane  —  the  verification  of  the 
fact  —  the  agony  of  suspense  —  the  knocks  that 
might  wake  the  savage  to  their  distraction,  —  all 
this  should  be  seen  and  heard,  but  the  reader 
may  enjoy  his  share  of  the  event  by  turning  to 
page  1 80  in  the  second  volume  of  Mr.  Taylor's 
poems. 

The  order  of  time  leads  me  through  losses  that 
cannot  be  repaired  and  gains  that  are  soon  ex- 
hausted to  the  production,  by  Mr.  Kemble,  of  a 
play  by  Cumberland  that  is  still  popular.  I  mean 
his  "  Wheel  of  Fortune,"  acted  a  first  time  on  the 
28th  of  February,  1795.  It  has  a  remarkable 


MRS.   JORDAN  267 

similarity  to  Kotzebue's  "  Stranger,"  of  which  he 
might  have  heard  some  account,  for,  I  believe,  he 
did  not  read  German.  He  seems  merely  to  have 
used  the  hero,  for  Cumberland's  lady  is  the  wife  of 
Penruddock's  false  friend.  The  deep  penitence 
of  Mrs.  Haller  is  a  striking  feature  in  the  German 
which  is  weakness  itself,  as  hinted  only,  in  the 
Woodville  family.  But  Cumberland  has  a  masterly 
improvement  where  he  makes  Penruddock  unfold 
his  wretchedness  to  the  son  of  the  very  man  who 
had  destroyed  him  by  treachery.  Kemble  played 
this  character  so  as  never  to  be  forgotten ;  he 
had  worked  it  into  his  heart,  as  if  he  believed 
it  part  of  his  own  personal  history ;  he  kindled 
so  in  his  course,  that  when  he  stated  who  had 
betrayed  him  to  his  brother  Charles,  who  acted 
Henry  Woodville,  that  gentleman  for  an  instant 
was  as  an  actor  thrown  off  his  poise,  and  rendered 
motionless  with  agony.  He  told  me  this  himself, 
and  that  the  frequent  rehearsals  had  no  power 
whatever  to  prepare  him  for  the  terrific  energy  of 
the  disclosure  before  the  audience. 

In  the  "  Wheel  of  Fortune  "  Miss  Farren  acted 
Lady  Tempest,  one  of  those  elegant  sketches  of 
her  sex  that  you  may  call  by  any  name,  very 
agreeable,  but  not  striking.  Mr.  Cumberland 


268  MRS.  JORDAN 

next  determined  to  work  for  Mrs.  Jordan,  and 
the  same  season,  on  the  I2th  of  May,  produced 
his  "First  Love." 

Madame  D'Arblay  tried  a  tragedy  called  "  Edwy 
and  Elgiva,"  of  which  Mr.  Kemble  had  no  opin- 
ion, though  he  and  his  sister  played  in  it ;  and 
Mr.  Jerningham,  a  very  amiable  man  and  a  poet 
of  some  fashion,  procured  his  "  Welsh  Heiress " 
one  night's  hearing ;  and  the  magic  of  Plinlimmon, 
for  such  was  the  mountainous  appellation  Mrs. 
Jordan  stood  under,  "bowed  its  cloud-capt  head." 
The  characters  of  this  play  seemed  to  have  been 
suggested  by  some  of  the  ancient  mysteries  and 
moralities  ;  for  instance,  there  were  in  one  comedy 
Fashion,  Classical  Frenzy,  Fancy,  and  Conscience, 
males,  performed  by  Barrymore,  Bannister,  Jr.,  R. 
Palmer,  and  Suett. 

Barrymore,  not  well  at  home  in  Fashion,  could 
not  learn  the  prologue,  and  it  was  read  in  this 
perfect  theatre ;  and,  as  if  the  powers  of  the  state 
were  in  disunion,  the  epilogue,  by  Field  Marshal 
Conway,  was  permitted  to  attack  the  entry  of 
"Alexander  into  Babylon"  and  the  Amazonian 
Nudes ;  though  Harris,  at  the  other  house,  was 
beggaring  himself  to  rival  its  splendour  by  get- 
ting up  Noverre's  "  Peleus  and  Thetis "  in  the 


MRS.   JORDAN  269 

court  of  Edward  the  Third.  Chaos  was  come 
again,  and  Kemble  ought  to  have  resigned  at 
once.  Even  Mrs.  Siddons,  in  the  dignity  of  form 
and  the  power  of  expression  able  to  have  quelled 
the  impostor  Mahomet,  assumed  the  juvenile  Pal- 
myra for  her  benefit,  and  acted  the  Emmeline  of 
Dryden's  "Arthur"  after  it;  and  Sam.  Rogers, 
Esq.,  wrote  an  address  which  would  have  suited 
Jordan  l  or  Farren  to  a  tag,  but  rendered  such  a 
woman  as  Siddons  insipid.  Lady  Macbeth  and 
Volumnia,  for  "she  cannot  lay  aside  what  grows 
to  her,"  talking  of  a  time  — 

"  When  the  red  coral  rings  its  silver  bells." 

A  sort  of  "  Seven  Ages  "  of  woman,  written  with 
some  neatness,  but  requiring  much  curtailment, 
for  it  was  eighty-six  lines.  This  was  on  the  2 7th 
of  April,  and  on  the  2d  of  May,  poor  Mrs.  Powell, 
out  of  her  wits  for  attraction  to  her  night,  appeared 
in  Young  Norval.  But  these  "  fierce  vanities  "  dis- 
posed of,  on  the  I2th  of  May  "First  Love"  was 

1  This  notion  of  the  author's  appears  to  have  had  full  counte- 
nance from  Mr.  Rogers  himself,  who,  in  April,  1797,  gave  it  to 
Reynolds  for  an  epilogue  to  his  comedy  of  the  "  Will,"  and  it 
was  then  really  spoken  by  Mrs.  Jordan.  Reynolds  added,  on 
the  change  of  speaker,  some  breadth  to  the  fun,  for  which  the 
gay  actress  thought  herself  obliged  to  him. 


270  MRS.  JORDAN 

acted  at  the  theatre  so  trifled  with,  and  displayed 
the  skill  of  the  veteran,  good  taste,  and  elegant 
diction.  Two  such  comedies  in  one  season  are 
among  the  rarities  of  dramatic  fertility.  But  Mrs. 
Jordan  here  made  a  beautiful  display  of  herself. 
It  was  in  a  character  called  Sabina  Rosny,  whose 
noble  parents  had  perished  in  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, and  who,  alone  and  unprotected,  had  effected 
her  escape  to  Italy.  There,  an  English  lord,  in 
her  own  language,  "  basely  betrayed  her  by  a 
pretended  marriage."  Hear  Mrs.  Jordan  utter 
the  following : 

"What  can  I  say  or  do?  Shall  a  poor  alien  like  me 
contend  with  power  like  his  ?  Your  laws  will  not  redress 
me ;  my  religion  is  not  his  religion.  I  know  not  who  is  that 
Italian  monk  that  married  us —  I  know  not  where  to  find 
him;  or,  if  I  could,  what  then?  My  lord  would  little  care 
for  that." 

This  is  part  of  a  lovely  scene  between  Sabina 
and  Lady  Ruby  (Miss  Farren),  the  first  of  the 
fourth  act.  I  have  seldom  seen  Miss  Farren  to 
more  advantage :  substantially,  Lady  Ruby  is  an- 
other Lady  Emily  Gayville,  and  Sabina  is  a  more 
interesting  Miss  Alton.  The  offending  Lord  Sen- 
sitive has  still  a  large  fund  of  slumbering  honour 
about  him,  that  a  suggestion  will  startle  into 


MRS.   JORDAN  271 

atonement.  Lady  Ruby's  probe  is  keen  enough 
to  wake  the  dead.  His  lordship's  journey  to 
Padua  is  spared  by  a  delighted  sylph  at  his  elbow, 
whose  generous  apology  for  her  husband's  error 
threw  everybody  into  tears. 

"  Sabina.  I  know  not  how  to  call  it  an  offence,  for  what 
am  I  ?  My  fortune  nothing,  my  nobility  a  shadow ;  a  heart 
to  honour  you  is  all  that  I  can  boast.  How,  then,  can  I  be 
angry,  if,  when  returned  to  your  own  happy  country,  where 
so  many  fairer  ladies  courted  your  attention,  you  forgot 
poor,  humble,  lost  Sabina." 

A  rival  dramatist  has  noticed  the  great  defi- 
ciency of  comedy  in  this  play.  I  know  not,  with- 
out being  extraneous  or  violent,  how  it  could  have 
been  supplied.  The  reader  of  "  First  Love  "  will 
hardly  fail  to  find,  with  a  favourite  poet,  — 

"  The  broadest  laugh  unfeeling  Folly  wears, 
Less  pleasing  far,  than  Virtue's  very  tears." 

What  little  humour  the  author  could  afford  us 
was  in  safe  hands.  Bannister,  Jr.,  had  a  gener- 
ous young  seaman,  and  played  it  with  great  spirit. 
Suett,  who  acted  Billy  Bustler,  was  a  nervous,  but, 
therefore,  safe  actor ;  he  always  kept  the  line  and 
felt  the  temper  of  the  house.  The  Wrangler  of 
Miss  Pope  was  the  portrait  of  too  large  a  por- 
tion of  fashionable  women.  King,  Palmer,  and 


272  MRS.   JORDAN 

Wroughton  were  well  suited,  and  the  piece  did 
great  service  to  the  theatre. 

Upon  the  subject  of  "  First  Love,"  Mr.  Cumber- 
land thus  expresses  himself.  "When  two  such 
exquisite  actresses  conspired  to  support  me,  I  will 
not  be  so  vain  as  to  presume  I  could  have  stood 
without  their  help."  (Mem.  vol.  ii.  p.  281.) 

But  he  has  still  more  strongly  marked  his  admi- 
ration of  our  Euphrosyne,  in  a  true  and  melan- 
choly revision  of  our  stage  improvements.  These 
are  his  words :  "  If  nature  can  hardly  be  upheld 
by  Mrs.  Jordan,  or  Shakespeare  by  Mr.  Kemble, 
what  author  in  his  senses  will  attempt  a  comedy 
more  legitimate  than  the  'Forty  Thieves,'  or  a 
tragedy  more  serious  than  'Tom  Thumb'?" 
(Mem.  Supplement.) 

The  opening  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre  for  the 
winter  of  1795-96,  announced  the  complete  tri- 
umph of  Cumberland's  muse.  He  had  already 
occupied  seven  nights  by  the  three  last  comedies 
produced,  when,  on  the  2Oth  of  October,  he  incon- 
siderately launched  a  fourth,  called  the  "  Depend- 
ent," of  which  the  name,  I  think,  only  remains. 
This  was  at  once  withdrawn  by  the  manager,  and 
properly. 

Besides  the  fair  attraction  of  D'Egville's  grand 


MRS.   JORDAN  273 

ballet,  Mr.  Kemble  thought  himself  bound  to  turn 
its  decoration  to  account  in  the  representation  of 
Lee's  tragedy  of  the  "  Rival  Queens,"  he  himself 
now  performing  the  part  of  Alexander.  Such  an 
exhibition  had  never  been  witnessed  in  this  country. 
It  was  first  displayed  on  the  23d  of  November, 
and  repeated  as  often  as  he  could  sustain  the 
personal  fatigue. 

The  female  reader  will  thank  me  for  telling  her 
that  Mrs.  Siddons  at  last  played  Roxana  without 
powder,  and  it  was  found  that  her  dark  hair  added 
lustre,  and  even  youth,  to  her  striking  features. 
The  ladies  now  frequently  dressed  their  hair  d  la 
Grecque ;  perhaps  the  only  tasteful  fashion  intro- 
duced by  the  French  reformers. 

Mrs.  Jordan,  early  in  the  year  1796,  suffered  a 
miscarriage,  which  kept  her  from  theatrical  duty 
about  a  month.  She  was  naturally  attacked  by 
the  malignant  scribblers  in  another  interest,  as 
refusing  about  ^150  during  her  absence  from 
caprice !  The  fact  is,  that  her  reappearance  was 
regulated  entirely  by  Doctor  Warren.  In  the 
meantime  Miss  Decamp's  "  Columbine  "  filled  the 
twenty  houses  to  the  roof. 

On  the  2 /th  of  February,  1796,  Mr.  Kemble 
revived  Wycherley's  "  Plain  Dealer,"  and  played 


274  MRS.  JORDAN 

Manly  to  Mrs.  Jordan's  Fidelia.  From  their  dif- 
ferent lines  he  but  seldom  had  acted  with  her.  He 
now  met  the  charmer  in  one  of  the  most  winning 
characters  in  our  drama,  and  she  quite  subdued 
him.1  He  told  me  that  she  was  absolutely  irre- 
sistible, and  I  am  sure  he  thought  what  he  said. 
There  had  been  a  good  deal  of  contest  occasion- 
ally between  them,  and  he  was  sometimes  accused 
of  not  sufficiently  studying  or  promoting  her  in- 
terest. Miss  Farren  often  disputed  points  of 
management  with  him  ;  and  he  had  great  diffi- 
culty to  keep  the  steady  course  which  his  own 
judgment  had  settled.  I  freely  admit  that  he  had 
done  more  for  Mrs.  Jordan,  in  the  way  of  revival 
and  alteration,  than  for  any  other  actress,  if  you 
even  name  his  sister,  Mrs.  Siddons. 

March  the  I2th  witnessed  the  first  appearance 
of  the  "Iron  Chest,"  by  Mr.  Colman.  Sheridan 
wished  Mrs.  Jordan  to  take  the  part  of  Helen, 


1  What  he  said  to  me  upon  the  occasion  will  be  rightly  under- 
stood. He  used  the  language  of  Yorick,  when  he  was  no 
jester.  "  It  may  seem  ridiculous  enough  to  a  torpid  heart,  —  I 
could  have  taken  her  into  my  arms,  and  cherished  her,  though 
it  was  in  the  open  street,  without  blushing."  Kemble  could 
repeat  the  "  Sentimental  Journey  "  from  beginning  to  end  —  he 
used  to  recite  from  Sterne  on  the  stage,  when  he  was  a  young 
man. 


MRS.  JORDAN  275 

which  seemed  little  calculated  for  Miss  Farren. 
I  have  spoken  more  than  enough  already  about 
this  drama,  and  as  Mrs.  Jordan  had  nothing  to  do 
with  it,  there  is  no  reason  why  I  should  prolong 
the  discussion  it  occasioned.  Sir  Edward  Morti- 
mer has  been  a  favourite  part  for  Elliston,  Young, 
and  Kean.  I  forget  whether  Mr.  Macready's 
"  election  "  has  seized  it  also  for  his.  Kean  has  a 
physical  defect,  which  looks  quite  in  keeping  with 
the  gradual  decay  of  Sir  Edward  ;  and  an  energy, 
which  bursts  like  lightning  from  a  gloomy  sky, 
and  displays  the  mental  agonies  of  this  honourable 
murderer.  I  should  think  he  must  be  the  best  of 
them.  Kemble  did  not  play  it  at  all. 

The  "  Iron  Chest,"  when  opened  in  public, 
having  presented  nothing  but  the  knife  of  its 
owner,  to  convict  him  of  murder,  we  are  next  to 
examine  the  produce  of  an  old  trunk,  from  which 
the  play  of  "  Vortigern  "  was  extracted,  to  prove 
the  possessor  an  impostor.  Upon  the  decided 
failure  of  the  former  play,  the  property,  rather 
than  the  manager  of  Drury,  announced  the  tragedy 
called  "  Vortigern  "  to  be  in  preparation  ;  and  on 
the  2d  of  April  (to  avoid  the  omen  of  folly), 
sanctioned  by  Sheridan,  whose  irreverence  on  the 
occasion  I  heard,  it  had  a  trial,  whether  written 


276  MRS.   JORDAN 

by  Shakespeare  or  young  Ireland.  Mrs.  Siddons 
had  excused  herself  from  acting  the  part  assigned 
to  her,  which  devolved  in  course  upon  Mrs.  Powell. 
Sheridan  had  no  great  opinion  of  Mrs.  Jordan  in 
tragedy,  but  he  well  knew  the  value  of  her  name, 
and  she  accepted  the  character  of  Flavia.  In 
compliment,  therefore,  to  her,  I  shall  add  some- 
thing to  what  I  have  elsewhere  written  on  the 
subject.  The  complexion  and  extent  of  the  fabri- 
cation seem  to  have  followed  the  recent  one  by 
Chatterton ;  and  the  happy  repository  they  had 
both  chosen  gave  to  each  youth  the  power  of 
imputing  to  antiquity  all  that  they  were  skilful 
enough  to  compose ;  with  this  advantage  in  favour 
of  Chatterton,  that,  what  he  attributed  to  Rowley 
could  be  compared  with  no  acknowledged  writings 
of  his ;  and  if  the  fabricator  could  but  keep  to  the 
history,  the  manners,  the  diction,  and  the  metre  of 
his  presumed  original,  it  would  be,  perhaps,  im- 
possible to  detect  him  completely.  As  to  young 
Ireland,  he  exposed  himself  unnecessarily  to  a  fur- 
ther test,  namely,  whether  a  play  attributed  by 
him  to  Shakespeare  was  good  enough  to  be  added 
to  his  accredited  compositions  ?  When  young 
Ireland  acknowledged  the  whole  of  the  discovered 
MSS.  to  be  his  own,  no  part  of  their  contents  was 


MRS.   JORDAN  277 

superior  to  even  the  spontaneous  effusions  of  his 
pen.  The  poems  of  Rowley,  though  evident  fab- 
rications, and  produced  by  Chatterton  to  the  cred- 
ulous of  Bristol,  are,  in  point  of  genius,  so  infinitely 
beyond  his  acknowledged  writings,  that  there  are 
many  able  judges  of  the  subject  who  utterly  dis- 
believe that  he  was  the  real  author,  whether  they 
are  Rowley's  or  not. 

There  was  something  in  the  story  of  Chatterton 
peculiarly  seducing  to  a  young  man  of  a  poetical 
cast  of  mind,  and,  with  a  very  little  more  Shake- 
spearian lore,  he  might  have  defied  his  critics,  and 
the  worst  play  he  could  have  produced  have  been 
thought  at  least  as  good  as  "Titus  Andronicus," 
which  Shakespeare's  own  partners  delivered  to  the 
world  as  his.  But  a  single  anachronism  destroyed 
him.  To  show  this  clearly :  in  the  letter  to  the 
poet,  from  the  queen,  commanding  him  to  be  at 
Hamptowne  with  his  best  players  on  a  certain 
day,  as  the  Earl  of  Leicester  would  be  with  her, 
it  is  at  once  apparent  that  our  poet  was  at  the  head 
of  no  company  of  comedians,  when  Leicester 
could  be  with  her  Majesty ;  for  he  had  not 
written  a  single  play,  at  any  such  period.  Neither, 
in  fact,  was  Elizabeth  an  encourager  of  the 
stage.  See  her  letter  written  at  this  time  to 


278  MRS.   JORDAN 

Secretary  Walsingham,  which  I  copied  from  the 
original,  in  the  British  Museum,  Ayscough's 
Catalogue. 

"  The  Queen  to  Secretary   Walsingfiam." 

"January  25,  1586. 

"The  daily  abuse  of  stage  playes  is  such  an 
offence  to  the  godlye,  and  so  grete  a  hindrance  to 
the  gospel,  as  the  Papists  do  exceedingly  rejoice  at 
the  blemish  thereof,  and  not  without  cause.  For 
every  day  in  the  week  the  Players'  bills  are  set  up 
in  sundry  places  of  the  city,  some  in  the  name  of 
Her  Majesty's  men,  some  th'  Erie  of  Leicester's, 
some  th'  Erie  of  Oxford's,  the  Lord  Admiral's, 
and  divers  others  —  so  that  when  the  bells  toll  to 
the  Lecturers  the  trumpettes  sound  to  the  Stagers. 
The  Play-houses  are  pestered  when  the  churches 
are  naked.  At  the  one  it  is  not  possible  to  get  a 
place,  at  the  other  void  seats  are  plenty.  It  is  a 
woful  sight  to  see  two  hundred  proude  players  jet 
in  their  silkes,  where  five  hundred  poore  people 
starve  in  the  stretes.  But  if  this  mischife  must 
be  tolerated,  let  every  stage  in  London  pay  a 
weekly  pension  to  the  poore,  that,  ex  hoc  malo 
proveniat  aliquod  bonum.  But  it  were  rather  to 


MRS.   JORDAN  279 

be  wished  that  players  might  be  used  as  Apollo 
did  laughing,  seme  I  in  anno" 

After  reading  this,  let  us  only  reflect  upon  the 
ignorance  that  could  make  this  royal  precisian 
write  to  a  player,  and  begin  her  letter  with  the 
familiar  "Dear  William,"  of  intimacy. 

I  will  do  Mrs.  Jordan  the  justice  to  say  that 
she  acted  her  character  of  Flavia,  bond  fide,  with 
exquisite  simplicity,  and  very  properly  did  not 
affect  to  play  the  critic,  which  is  in  fact  decided 
treachery,  where  you  have  liberty  to  reject  the 
part  you  play.  This  conduct  could  not  be  ex- 
pected from  the  male  part  of  the  cast,  nor  was  it 
found  about  them,  —  they  knew  Mr.  Kemble's 
opinion  as  to  the  play,  and  acted  quite  up  to  it. 
Phillimore,  in  Horsa,  would  have  damned  Shake- 
speare himself.  The  prologue  and  epilogue  were 
written  by  two  out  and  out  men,  Sir  James  Bland 
Burgess  and  Robert  Merry.  The  former  poet 
commenced  thus  —  read  by  Whitfield  : 

"  No  common  cause  your  verdict  now  demands, 
Before  the  court  immortal  Shakespeare  stands." 

Merry  was  more  flowery,  of  course,  and  he  had 
Mrs.  Jordan  to  speak  his  lines  : 


280  MRS.   JORDAN 

"  Then  do  not  frown,  but  give  due  share  of  praise, 
Nor  rend  from  Shakespeare's  tomb  the  sacred  bays, 
The  scatter'd  flow'rs  he  left,  benignly  save  ! 
Posthumous  flow'rs  —  the  garland  of  the  grave !  " 

She  then  proceeded  to  apply  his  many-coloured 
characters  to  the  audience,  and,  though  extremely 
frightened  at  the  dreadful  noise  in  the  court,  did 
the  poet's  pleasant  appeal  as  much  justice  as  their 
indignation  allowed  on  the  occasion. 

The  manager,  now  in  earnest,  acted  a  tragedy 
by  Miss  Lee,  called  "Almeyda" —  it  is  a  Moorish 
fable  sufficiently  regular,  poetically  and  even  pa- 
thetically written ;  but  Kemble  and  Siddons  could 
not  keep  the  play  alive  longer  than  four  nights  — 
such  is  the  destructive  effect  of  burlesque,  when 
it  precedes  even  respectable  composition.  This 
was  on  the  2Oth  of  April,  and  on  the  3Oth 
Hoare's  opera  of  "Mahmoud,"  in  which  Kemble 
strengthened  the  piece  by  playing  Mahmoud, 
with  Braham,  from  the  Royalty,  and  a  vast 
musical  strength,  supported  the  fame  of  Storace, 
as  a  composer,  who  had  just  dropped  into  the 
grave. 

Mr.  Hoare  presented  Mrs.  Siddons  with  a 
tragedy,  called  "Julia,"  for  her  benefit,  on  the 
2d  of  May,  and,  on  the  6th,  Mr.  Bensley,  after 


MRS.  JORDAN  281 

playing  Evander,  took  his  leave  of  the  public. 
There  was  a  refined,  gentlemanly  scholarship  in 
all  he  did,  and  a  soldierly  deportment,  which  we 
have  never  seen  in  his  station  since  he  quitted 
it.  Mrs.  Jordan,  on  the  Qth  of  June,  performed 
Letitia  Hardy  and  Roxalana,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  widow  and  children  of  poor  Benson,  a  valuable 
man,  who  was  accidentally  taken  from  them  by 
a  brain  fever,  —  he  threw  himself  from  the  top  of 
his  house  in  Bridges  Street.  Benson  had  the 
misfortune  to  act  Hengist,  in  the  famous  "Vorti- 
gern,"  and,  with  his  yoke-fellow,  Horsa,  received 
some  of  the  favours  bestowed  by  the  audience 
upon  such  stupid  invaders ;  and  it  was  feared  that 
sounds  so  unusual  to  his  ears  had  rung  in  them 
much  longer  than  in  reason  they  should  have 
done.  Benson  was  an  extremely  modest,  useful 
man,  distinguished  for  what  actors  call  a  quick 
study,  whom  a  few  hours,  at  a  slight  warning, 
enabled  to  supply  the  place  of  any  second  or  third 
rate  absentee  in  the  company. 

On  the  night  of  his  benefit,  Mrs.  Jordan  spoke 
an  address,  which  the  ready  muse  of  Mr.  Taylor 
supplied ;  it  expatiated  upon  the  charitable  institu- 
tions of  the  country,  and  as  the  house  was  really 
crowded  to  the  roof,  there  was  little  occasion  to 


282  MRS.   JORDAN 

do  more  than  compliment  so  useful  a  benevolence  ; 
it  thus  concluded  : 

"  When  every  eye  the  plaintive  story  tells, 
And  every  heart  with  liberal  pity  swells, 
Let  not  the  officious  muse  a  theme  prolong, 
That  melts,  yet  animates  this  generous  throng." 

The  zeal  of  Mrs.  Jordan,  on  this  occasion,  prop- 
erly rendered  her  reception  enthusiastic  through 
the  evening  —  play,  farce,  address  !  What,  all  her- 
self in  this  company  of  splendid  talent  ?  —  no 
competition  ?  —  yes ;  Mr.  Lewis,  of  the  other 
house,  volunteered  his  Doricourt,  or  the  play 
could  not  have  been  done. 

Mrs.  Jordan  amused  herself  this  summer  with 
acting  at  the  Richmond  Theatre.  That  of  Drury 
Lane  was  going  to  destruction  with  all  the  celer- 
ity that  could  be  expected.  Kemble  had  resigned, 
as  King  had  done  before  him  —  Miss  Farren 
threatened  retirement  altogether.  Such  was  the 
fate  of  the  Grand  National  Theatre,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  most  brilliant  genius  of  his  time. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

Mr.  Colman  and  the  Reopening  of  His  "Iron  Chest"  —  Season 
of  1796-97  —  The  Losses  of  Drury;  Parsons,  Dodd  —  The 
Latter  Excellent  in  Old  Winterton  —  Contrasted  with  Faw- 
cett  —  Wroughton  Appointed  Stage-manager  —  Mrs.  Jordan 
and  Her  Salary  —  Ballet  —  Miss  Parissot  and  the  "  Triumph 
of  Love"  —  Madame  Hilligsberg,  an  Atalanta  in  Running  — 
Dowton  Recommended  by  Cumberland  —  An  Admirer  Before 
of  Mr.  Henderson  —  Garrick's  Prejudice  —  Deficiencies  of 
the  Company  —  Revivals  —  Jephson's  "  Conspiracy  "  —  The 
Force  of  Ridicule  —  Miss  Farren  Contumacious  —  New 
Comedy  Postponed  —  Miss  Farren's  Return  and  Triumph 
—  Play  Destroyed  —  The  "  Shipwreck  "  —  The  Operatic 
"  Honeymoon  "  —  "  Friend  in  Need  "  —  New  Imogen  —  Miss 
Farren's  Retirement  to  a  Coronet  —  Mrs.  Pope's  Death  and 
Character  —  The  Author  Becomes  Acquainted  with  Mrs. 
Jordan  —  In  the  Distress  of  Drury  Lane  House,  Reynolds 
Writes  for  Mrs.  Jordan  —  Cumberland's  Behaviour  at  the 
Exhibition  of  the  "Will"  — Mrs.  Jordan's  Albina,  and  Her 
Seven  Ages  of  Woman  — "  Dido,"  and  "My  Night  Gown 
and  Slippers  "  —  Prince  Hoare  at  Covent  Garden  —  Mrs. 
Jordan  a  Full  Contrast  to  the  Selfish  of  Her  Profession. 

summer  season  of  1796  at  the  Hay- 
market  was  devoted  by  Mr.  Colman  to 
the   revival    of    his   own   fame,   which 
suffered   a   severe   wound   at   the   great   theatre, 
that   could   only  be  medicated   by   a   more   suc- 
283 


284  MRS.  JORDAN 

cessful  treatment  at  the  small  one.  The  Bath 
theatre  on  many  occasions  had  the  praise  of  sup- 
plying, like  its  waters,  to  the  salubrity  of  the 
metropolis.  On  the  disaster  attending  his  "  Iron 
Chest,"  Mr.  Colman  looked  around  him  for  the 
means  of  ensuring  its  triumph  at  the  Haymarket, 
and  he  heard  enough  of  Elliston,  then  a  young 
man,  as  to  his  energy  and  powers  of  voice,  to 
think  that  he  might  chance  to  receive  in  him  the 
peculiar  aid  he  required. 

He  tried  him  first  in  Octavian,  and,  in  full  con- 
fidence of  his  talent,  Elliston  chose  to  act  Vapour 
after  it,  in  the  farce  of  "  My  Grandmother." 
Every  support  that  could  be  given  to  the  new 
performer  on  this  trial  was  given  ;  it  is,  however, 
but  justice  to  acknowledge  that  he  exceeded  all 
late  adventurers  in  promise,  and  much  as  he  has 
done  in  the  profession,  I  confess  I  think  the  25th 
of  June,  1796,  augured  a  great  deal  more.  His 
countenance  was  not  such  an  index  as  Kemble's, 
and  he  could  not  assume  the  languor  of  disap- 
pointed love.  In  the  picturesque  forms  of  the 
character  he,  and  all  men,  were  thrown  to  an  im- 
measurable distance  by  Kemble,  who  had  a  person 
that  far  transcended  competition. 

Mr.  Ellison  repeated  Octavian  on  the  28th,  and 


•T(.  W.  Rlliston 

Engraved  by  Ant.  c'ardon,  from  the  painting  by  Bennett 


MRS.  JORDAN  285 

on  the  ist  of  July;  and  the  experiment  having 
completely  answered,  Mr.  Colman  turned  his  at- 
tention at  once  to  Sir  Edward  Mortimer,  and  gave 
the  docile  tragedian  the  full  advantage  of  the 
author's  instructions.  Elliston,  to  use  his  own 
phrase  to  me,  had  tried  with  the  great  actor 
"  the  strength  of  his  youth  "  in  Octavian.  In  Sir 
Edward  he  had  nothing  to  fear ;  if  he  raised  the 
character,  he  had  everything  to  hope,  from  his 
manager's  gratitude,  and  the  comparison  that 
would  be  made  by  the  public.  At  length,  on 
the  29th  of  August,  after  rehearsals  carefully 
attended  and  all  tediousness  in  the  dialogue  and 
action  pared  away,  the  "  Iron  Chest "  was  pro- 
duced at  the  Little  Theatre,  and  received  with 
sufficient  applause.  It  was  acted  thirteen  times 
in  the  remainder  of  the  short  Haymarket  season. 

Among  the  summer  attractions  Cumberland 
produced  a  Spanish  incident  called  "  Don  Pedro," 
with  the  cognomen  "  II  Diabolo,"  and  Palmer  might 
have  fancied  himself  once  more  at  the  Royalty ; 
but  it  did  not  outlive  its  third  night,  and  was  not 
above  the  ordinary  sale-work  of  the  stage,  without 
its  all-atoning  machinery,  scenes,  and  splendid  deco- 
rations. 

The  opening  of  Drury  Lane  season   1796-97, 


286  MRS.  JORDAN 

under  an  inefficient  direction  and  a  discontented 
company,  had  yet  other  difficulties,  the  infliction 
of  time.  When  Garrick  quitted  the  stage  Mrs. 
Clive  amused  herself  with  anticipating  the  failure 
of  his  puppets,  when  the  master  hand  no  longer 
pulled  the  wires.  She  ascribed  to  his  instruction 
all  that  was  good  upon  his  stage,  and,  left  to  them- 
selves, she  thought  the  best  of  them  but  sorry 
artists.  But  the  momentum  which  he  had  given 
to  his  company  had  been  powerful,  and  in  the 
right  direction ;  and  as  there  was  little  to  oppose 
them,  they  kept  their  individual  course  correctly, 
and  preserved  the  harmony  of  the  system  on 
which  they  depended. 

Death,  however,  was  gradually  diminishing  the 
group,  —  Parsons  was  gone,  and  Dodd  was  now  to 
follow  him  ;  an  event  which  threw  a  gloom  over 
the  assembled  company,  and  even  delayed  the 
opening  till  the  2Oth  of  September.  If  large 
theatres  were  of  detriment  to  fine  acting,  a  fact 
which  I  for  one  do  not  question,  since  they 
have  even  demanded  extravagance  in  the  three 
articles  of  action,  expression,  and  utterance,  per- 
haps to  no  one  comedian  could  they  be  more  fatal 
than  to  Dodd.  This  excellent  actor  had  a  weak 
voice,  but  as  he  managed  it  on  the  stage  of  his 


MRS.  JORDAN  287 

great  master,  it  was  quite  adequate  to  a  cast  of 
petit-maitres,  a  sort  of  thin  essences,  whom  a  gale 
too  violent,  or  a  noise  too  obstreperous,  would 
seem  to  annihilate. 

Nor  was  he  confined  to  the  coxcomb,  whose 
wit  almost  redeemed  his  effeminacy ;  he  was  the 
paragon  representative  of  all  fatuity ;  from  the 
Town-gull,  or  Master  Stephen,  two  originals  of 
Ben  Jonson's  "Every  Man  in  His  Humour," 
with  Master  Slender,  Roderigo,  and  Sir  Andrew 
Aguecheek  by  Shakespeare,  through  all  the  comic 
varieties,  for  they  are  no  more  in  the  genus 
that  Congreve  and  his  successors  have  struggled 
to  impart  to  their  copies.  I  say  the  genus,  for  it 
has  many  species ;  and  the  Sir  Benjamin  Backbite 
of  Sheridan  belongs  to  the  Master  Matthew  of 
Jonson,  however  crossed  in  the  breeding. 

It  was  mortifying,  I  have  no  doubt,  to  Dodd  to 
be  the  point  of  censure  in  the  dismal  "  Iron 
Chest."  It  is  for  the  author  to  judge  how  far  he 
may  choose  to  venture  the  exhibition  of  second 
childhood,  which  can  neither  amuse  nor  be  laughed 
at ;  but  never  did  I  see  more  perfect  acting  than 
the  Old  Adam  Winterton  of  Dodd.  Fawcett,  who 
succeeded  him,  forced  out  effect  by  a  shrill,  strong 
tone  of  voice,  and  an  occasional  testiness,  but  he 


288  MRS.   JORDAN 

was  not  aged  nor  smooth  in  the  part.  A  kindred 
objection  applied  to  Elliston  in  Sir  Edward,  when 
contrasted  with  Kemble,  —  the  first  only  acted  his 
passions,  and  the  latter  only  his  infirmities.  Mr. 
Dodd  had  none  of  the  restless  ambition  of  our 
present  actors ;  he  remained  at  Drury,  from  his 
first  establishment  there  under  Garrick,  till  the 
1 7th  of  September,  1796,  on  which  day  he  died. 
His  great  passion  was  to  collect  the  early  editions 
of  our  plays,  which  he  began  when  they  could  be 
bought  by  something  below  a  duke's  fortune ;  and 
his  collection  at  its  dispersion  more  than  tripled  its 
original  cost. 

Mr.  Wroughton  was  now  appointed  stage-man- 
ager of  the  theatre,  and  he  was  too  well  acquainted 
with  the  concern  to  deceive  himself  as  to  what  he 
undertook.  Sheridan  promised  to  write  himself 
again  ;  and  it  was  very  apparent,  if  he  did  not,  that 
the  concern  would  not  much  longer  be  able  to  hold 
out.  The  salaries  were  not  paid  up,  whatever 
success  had  attended  the  magnificent  displays  in 
the  management  of  Kemble.  Indeed,  so  little  did 
Mr.  Harris  fear  the  National  Theatre,  that  he  only 
thought  of  making  his  own  hold  as  much  money  as 
he  could  draw  from  the  public ;  and  liberal  treat- 
ment of  authors,  and  absolute  mercantile  punctu- 


MRS.   JORDAN  289 

ality,  made  him  secure  of  all  offers  from  writers, 
who  were  not  so  absolutely  independent  as  to 
consider  theatrical  profits  below  their  attention. 

Mrs.  Jordan,  I  believe,  got  her  money  pretty 
regularly.  As  to  any  other  attractions  in  the 
theatre,  they  might  be  said  to  consume  part,  if  not 
the  greater  part,  of  their  receipts,  by  the  lavish 
decorations  with  which  they  were  got  up.  Our 
inimitable  comedian  required  nothing  of  the  sort. 
Give  her  a  good  comedy  and  a  pleasant  farce,  a 
little  novelty  and  fair  play,  and  she  could  laugh 
her  way  through  a  season.  She  had  a  powerful 
friend,  moreover,  who  would  not  allow  her  to  be 
trifled  with  ;  a  sort  of  friendship  which  secured  for 
the  noble  patron  the  steady  aversion  which,  in 
a  certain  quarter,  was  always  manifested  at  the 
very  sound  of  his  name.  A  good  deal  of  this  sort 
of  irritation  I  have  myself  witnessed  at  times ; 
and  when  all  policy  had  by  a  jury  of  good  fellows 
been  long  "  found  drowned." 

Enough  has  been  said  to  discover  the  author's 
opinion  of  the  splendid  outrage  committed  by  the 
new  scheme  of  things  upon  the  spot  on  which 
Drury  Lane  playhouse  had  once  stood  ;  the  heads 
of  the  concern  had  been  turned  in  the  Haymarket, 
and  turned  toward  ballet.  In  consequence,  a 


290  MRS.   JORDAN 

lovely  stage-figure,  Mdlle.  Parissot,  who  seemed  to 
have  studied  her  grace  from  the  floating  spirits 
of  the  air  in  picture,  was  engaged  to  move 
through  an  operatical  ballet,  and  commenced  her 
progress  on  the  ist  of  October.  It  was  called 
the  "  Triumph  of  Love." 

The  time  was  gone  by  for  objection  ;  and  though 
a  few  sturdy  critics,  who  had  yet  heard  of  Gar- 
rick's  engagement  of  Noverre,  cried  out  most 
piteously  as  to  the  anomaly  now  committed,  the 
fair  tmigrante  continued  to  astonish  the  public 
in  general,  and  a  little  amuse  our  anatomists,  with 
a  command  over  the  joints  which  had  hitherto 
been  supposed  attainable  only  to  the  early  educa- 
tion of  the  tumbler.  The  line  of  her  figure,  from 
the  finger  of  the  right  hand  to  the  toe  of  the  left 
foot,  was  a  sweep  absolutely  astonishing ;  and 
though  now  the  graceful  trick  is  generally  per- 
formed in  ballet,  yet,  at  the  time  we  are  speaking 
of,  dancing  was  certainly  more  strictly  a  science, 
and  either  the  jumper  or  the  attitudinarian  under- 
valued by  the  masters  of  the  art.  Madame  Hilligs- 
berg  had  been  allowed  to  break  through  the  grand 
rule  of  steps  for  musical  notes,  and  absolutely  run 
away  from  the  accompaniment  of  the  orchestra, 
and  so  as  she  did  but  run,  she  had  the  wit  that 


MRS.   JORDAN  291 

Atalanta   wanted,   and   kicked   the   golden   apple 
triumphantly  before  her. 

"  Dum  talia  secum 
Exigit  Hippomenes ;  passu  volat  alite  virgo. 

Tamen  ille  decoram 
Miratur  magis :  et  cursus  facit  ipse  decoram." 

—  Metam.  x.  586. 

"  Thus  he  :  —  the  virgin  flies  with  winged  pace, 
And  seems  more  beauteous  from  the  breathing  race." 

Mr.  Cumberland  was  himself  an  admired  dra- 
matic reader,  and  an  excellent  judge  of  acting. 
But  he  was  not  a  man  to  interfere  with  the 
management  of  a  theatre,  or  to  give  his  opinion 
unsolicited.  When  Mr.  Dowton  applied  to 
Wroughton,  the  manager,  he  referred  that  gentle- 
man to  Mr.  Cumberland,  as  to  a  person  whom  he 
had  the  pleasure  to  know ;  and  this  becomes  pecul- 
iarly essential  in  the  narrative,  because  it  would 
otherwise  seem  an  ungrateful  return  of  Cumber- 
land to  Bannister,  who  had  first  established  his 
"Jew,"  to  bring  up  to  town  himself  another  per- 
former of  the  character,  as  if  dissatisfied  with  the 
original  Sheva,  and  only  anxious  to  show  himself 
by  a  still  better  light,  which  he  had  at  length  dis- 
covered. Whereas  the  truth  was,  that  Dowton, 
hearing  of  Elliston's  success  in  the  part,  was 


292  MRS.   JORDAN 

anxious  to  measure  his  strength  with  that  gentle- 
man, and  Mr.  Cumberland  came  up  to  town  with 
him,  merely,  as  I  have  said,  to  accredit,  by  his 
friendly  countenance,  a  deserving  man  and  most 
excellent  actor.  He  performed  Sheva  on  the  i  ith 
of  October,  and  remained  unrivalled  in  the  "  Jew," 
at  least  "  that  Cumberland  drew." 

This  vindication  of  Mr.  Cumberland  from  an 
aspersion  as  to  one  act  of  his  dramatic  life  reminds 
me  of  another,  in  which  he  showed  his  judgment 
alike  and  his  sincerity.  Garrick  had  desired  him 
to  attend  to  the  performances  of  Henderson,  and 
report  what  he  thought  of  him,  which  he  did  with 
great  frankness ;  and,  indeed,  he  seemed  to  alarm 
the  great  actor  by  the  equality  he  found,  mentally 
at  least,  in  the  operations  of  the  two  performers. 
Henderson  always  considered  himself  ungenerously 
obstructed  by  Garrick,  and  Mr.  Cumberland  has 
left  on  record  his  own  deliberate  opinion,  that  he 
thought  rightly.  "  After  a  languishing  negotia- 
tion, which  got  at  length  into  other  hands  than 
mine,  Garrick  made  the  transfer  of  his  property  in 
the  theatre  without  the  name  of  Henderson  upon 
the  roll  of  his  performers.  Truth  obliges  me  to 
say  that  the  negotiation,  in  all  its  parts  and  pas- 
sages, was  not  creditable  to  Mr.  Garrick." 


MRS.   JORDAN  293 

To  return  to  Mr.  Dowton.  In  one  respect  he 
resembled  Parsons,  whose  place  was  still  to  be  sup- 
plied ;  he  had  been  liberally  educated  for  the  pro- 
fession of  an  architect,  and  was,  like  him,  seduced 
by  private  acting.  But  in  acting  he  was  of  a  very 
different  school,  the  chastest  and  therefore  the 
best.  He  was  not  disposed,  like  Munden,  to  re- 
sort to  occasional  grimace,  but  made  his  aim  legiti- 
mately at  character  in  the  drama,  and  filled  up 
any  perfect  outline  from  an  author,  with  all  the 
vitality  that  could  be  expected  from  the  consum- 
mate artist.  Among  his  other  excellences,  he  is  a 
great  master  of  dialect,  and  preserves  it  without 
the  slightest  mixture  even  in  the  vehemence  of 
passion,  when  any  mode  assumed  by  the  tongue  is 
in  most  danger  of  being  lost  in  the  personal  feel- 
ing of  the  actor.  As  to  utility  in  the  theatre,  he 
was  nearer  to  King  than  Parsons,  and  sensible 
speaking  made  the  great  charm  of  his  comedy, 
with  a  kindly  paternal  warmth  that  glowed 
through  the  oddities  of  exterior  whim. 

It  was  a  melancholy  thing  to  see  the  supple- 
ments sought  to  the  school  of  Garrick.  They 
could  not  get  even  a  Foigard  in  the  "Strata- 
gem "  without  exciting  an  exclamation  of  "  Think 
of  Moody ! "  They  were  at  least  puzzled  for  a 


294  MRS.   JORDAN 

Young  Norval  in  "Douglas,"  a  play  essential  to 
Mrs.  Siddons;  and  a  Charles  in  the  "School  for 
Scandal,"  because  neither  the  interests  of  the 
property  nor  the  literary  character  of  Sheridan 
could  permit  the  play  to  sleep.  Kemble,  man- 
ager or  not,  was  always  ready  for  a  revival,  and 
in  the  "Edward  and  Eleonora"  of  Thomson,  he 
but  waked  the  dead  for  a  single  night,  though  Mrs. 
Siddons  and  Mrs.  Powell  and  himself  and  Palmer 
did  all  that  their  skill  could  accomplish  to  excite 
the  unwilling  tenants  of  the  tomb.  We  hardly 
think  the  enchanting  author  of  the  "Seasons" 
could  thank  him  for  so  disturbing  his  tragedy. 

"  Long  on  these  mouldering  bones  have  beat 
The  winter's  snow,  the  summer's  heat : 
Unwilling,  I  my  lips  unclose  ; 
Leave  me,  leave  me  to  repose." 

On  the  1 5th  of  November  the  same  performers 
tried  a  tragedy,  by  Jephson,  upon  the  subject  of 
the  hackneyed  "  Clemenza  di  Tito,"  by  Metastasio, 
called  the  "  Conspiracy,"  but  it  was  detected  fully 
in  three  nights,  and  humanely  banished. 

On  the  2Qth  of  the  same  month  an  attempt  was 
made  to  see  if  a  new  comedy,  from  Holcroft,  could 
do  anything  for  the  theatre  under  political  manage- 
ment. It  was  called  the  "  Force  of  Ridicule,"  not 


MRS.  JORDAN  295 

a  bad  title,  though  lost  upon  the  concern.  The 
usual  time  of  commencing  passed  over,  and  the 
prologue  not  appearing  to  be  addressed,  the  drowsy 
orchestra,  having  renewed  again  and  again  the  usual 
symphonies  of  Handel,  and  Shaw  having  laid  down 
his  fiddle  in  despair,  at  length  Mr.  Palmer,  a 
countenance  of  alarm  and  concern  assumed  for 
the  nonce,  told  them  that  "owing  to  some  un- 
foreseen accident  Miss  Farren  had  not  come 
to  the  theatre  (the  very  chronometer  of  the 
house !),  but  that  a  messenger  had  been  des- 
patched to  know  the  reason  of  her  absence,  and 
the  proprietors  humbly  hoped  the  audience  would 
indulge  them  for  a  few  minutes  till  the  messen- 
ger returned."  About  seven  o'clock  back  came 
Palmer  again,  au  desespoir,  that  Miss  Farren  was 
"too  ill  to  leave  her  room,"  but  that  the  audience, 
who  had  heard  nothing  for  three  long  hours  but 
the  fruit  women  and  the  fiddlers,  might  take 
either  their  money  at  the  doors  or  Mrs.  Siddons 
in  Isabella;  and,  accordingly,  some  of  them  did 
one  thing  and  some  the  other,  while  the  cause 
of  this  confusion  was  whispered  differently.  The 
real  fact,  however,  was  that  Miss  Farren  knew 
her  duty  too  well  to  dispute  about  fringe  in  a  new 
character ;  she  would  have  used  some  of  her  own. 


296  MRS.   JORDAN 

But  finding  there  was  but  one  chance  of  getting 
a  considerable  sum  of  arrears  in  her  salary,  she 
had  seized  upon  the  new  comedy  as  an  occasion 
to  give  the  proprietors  notice  that  "  if  she  did  not 
receive  her  money  she  would  not  leave  her  house  ;  " 
and,  accordingly,  she  kept  her  word  better  than 
they  did  theirs,  and  the  play  stood  over  till  the  6th 
of  December. 

On  that  day  poor  Holcroft  and  his  "  Force  of 
Ridicule"  went  for  nothing  in  the  attraction. 
Miss  Farren  was  to  appear !  and  the  mighty  pub- 
lic, always  satisfied  at  last  with  some  unmeaning 
apology,  assembled  in  great  force,  to  show  dis- 
pleasure where  it  was  not  due,  and  wound  a  lady's 
delicacy,  who  had  already  been  robbed  of  her 
property.  As  soon  as  she  was  seen  upon  the 
stage  the  storm  began  to  rage,  and  though  the 
hands  might  be  said  to  put  down  the  hisses, 
she  thought  it  best  became  her  to  retire ;  but, 
determined  not  to  ask  indulgence  where  she  ac- 
knowledged no  offence,  she  begged  Wroughton  to 
go  on,  and  he  managed  the  matter  to  a  nicety,  for 
he  besought  the  audience,  in  the  name  of  Miss 
Farren,  to  pardon  the  proprietors  ;  and  Wroughton 
loved  the  truth,  and  always  spoke  it,  when  he  had 
heard  it.  It  is  a  ram  avis  in  apologies. 


MRS.   JORDAN  297 

"  If  there  has  been  any  appearance  of  disrespect 
to  the  public  in  the  disappointment  of  Tuesday 
last,  I  can  take  upon  me,  on  the  part  of  the  pro- 
prietors, to  express  the  greatest  regret  for  it ;  and 
to  add,  from  myself  as  manager,  as  well  as  for 
Miss  Farren,  that,  under  the  present  circumstances, 
I  hope  you  will  pardon  the  error."  Up  to  the 
clouds  (of  course  theatrical)  went  at  once  insulted 
beauty,  and  the  play  was  luckily  before  the  audi- 
ence, on  which  all  the  missiles  brought  with  them 
were  impatiently  discharged.  The  play  was  with 
difficulty  heard  throughout,  and  thus  the  error  of 
husbands,  in  not  sufficiently  regarding  their  wives, 
was  not,  as  Mr.  Sneer's  friend  projected,  shamed 
away  by  the  "  mere  force  of  ridicule." 

The  next  piece  they  brought  out  was  musical, 
and  called  the  "  Shipwreck ; "  however,  upon  the 
coast  of  Drury,  such  a  thing  was  sincerely  wel- 
come, and  the  owners,  Doctor  Arnold  and  his  son, 
were  not  inhospitably  treated  by  the  natives.  We 
confess  ourselves  in  some  instances  attracted,  as 
one  of  our  poets  has  it,  by  the  "whistlings  of  a 
name,"  and  that  of  Linley  was  peculiarly  pleasant 
to  our  ears ;  but  to  Mr.  Sheridan  it  should  have 
still  more  powerfully  appealed.  William  Linley 
had  composed  an  opera  called  the  "  Honeymoon," 


298  MRS.   JORDAN 

which  literally  failed  from  the  weakness  of  its 
dialogue.  When  he  brought  out  the  poetical  off- 
spring of  his  relation,  he  might  have  been  at  the 
trouble  to  see  that  it  was  strong  enough  to  keep 
its  feet.  Could  he,  at  all  events,  be  indifferent  to 
the  long  procession  of  failures  that  were  convinc- 
ing the  town  of  his  theatre's  being  devoted  to 
ruin  ?  A  very  powerful  man  was  at  length  started 
against,  and  might  have  been  the  support  of  his 
theatre.  I  allude  to  Morton,  whose  "  Children  in 
the  Wood"  could  not  have  been  acted  so  often 
by  his  company  without  attracting  his  notice. 
The  "Cure  for  the  Heartache"  has  literally 
been  a  fortune  to  every  theatre  in  these  king- 
doms ;  it  was  brought  out  by  Mr.  Harris  on  the 
loth  of  January,  1797. 

Mr.  Prince  Hoare  supplied  a  "  Friend  in  Need," 
a  musical  entertainment  of  very  peculiar  interest, 
on  the  Qth  of  February.  He  was  a  sure  and 
steady  ally  to  Drury  Lane  Theatre.  And  on  the 
6th  of  March,  a  sister  of  Lady  Beechey's,  named 
Worth ington,  appeared  in  the  character  of  Imogen. 
Her  terrors,  however,  were  insurmountable.  A 
new  ballet,  and  a  revival  of  the  "  First  of  June," 
on  the  same  evening,  looked  somewhat  reviving, 
but  a  stroke,  as  of  death,  was  at  hand  :  the  sudden 


MRS.  JORDAN  299 

announcement  of  Miss  Farren's  retirement  from 
the  stage  and  elevation  to  a  coronet.1  The  former 
event  took  place  on  the  8th  of  April,  1797,  after 
the  performance  of  Lady  Teazle. 

Instead  of  the  usual  rhymes  at  the  end  of  the 
play,  the  whole  of  the  dramatis  persona  remaining 
in  their  stations,  Mr.  Wroughton  advanced  and 
addressed  to  the  audience  the  following  person- 
alities as  to  Miss  Farren,  for  them  to  ratify,  if 
they  approved  them. 

"  But  ah  !  this  night,  adieu  the  mirthful  mien, 
When  Mirth's  lov'd  favourite  quits  the  mimic  scene  ! 

[Looking  toward  Miss  Farren,  who  stood  supported 

by  King  and  Miss  Miller. 
Startled  Thalia  would  assent  refuse, 
But  Truth  and  Virtue  sued  and  won  the  Muse." 

I  cannot  but  think  this  too  strongly,  however 
truly  put,  the  lady  being  herself  present.  He 
then  spoke  her  acknowledgments,  which  she  de- 
clined doing  for  herself,  and  then  the  countess- 
elect  advanced,  and  curtseyed  to  the  right,  the  left, 

1 A  slight  suspicion  may  here  arise,  whether  the  determined 
conduct  at  the  "  Force  of  Ridicule  "  was  not  an  anticipation  of 
this  event,  and  that  it  would  be  better  to  obtain  all  arrears 
from  the  theatre,  as  Miss  Farren,  than  leave  them  for  subse- 
quent adjustment  between  a  noble  earl  and  Mr.  Sheridan  the 
politician. 


300  MRS.  JORDAN 

and  the  front,  as  is  usual  upon  occasions  of  high 
stage  ceremonial.  The  late  countess  died  on  the 
1 4th  of  March,  having  just  completed  her  forty- 
fourth  year ;  and,  as  respect  was  not  pretended 
where  it  was  not  felt,  the  second  marriage  took 
place  on  the  1st  of  May  following,  and  the  stage 
lost  its  only  woman  of  fashion.  I  say  its  only 
woman  of  fashion,  because  the  disposer  even  of 
coronets,  the  "insatiate  archer"  himself,  had  es- 
poused the  other  just,  but  more  solid  representa- 
tive of  stylish  females,  Mrs.  Pope,  on  the  I5th  of 
March,  in  the  fifty-second  year  of  her  age.  I 
shall  consider  her  as  a  daughter  of  Garrick's  thea- 
tre, because  there  she  acquired  all  the  resources 
of  her  art ;  and  they  constituted  her  the  most 
general  actress  that  the  stage  had  ever  seen.  I 
can,  with  perfect  truth,  say,  that  in  tragedy,  as 
well  as  comedy,  there  were  characters  of  which 
she  was  the  most  perfect  representative.  Had 
she  possessed  such  a  face  as  that  of  Mrs.  Siddons, 
there  might  have  been  more  ;  but  then,  some  of 
her  sprightly  comedy  would  have  been  awed  down, 
and  she  might  on  the  whole  have  been  less  distin- 
guished. In  the  days  of  Yates  and  Barry,  she 
established  herself  by  unwearied  diligence ;  and 
though  always  weak  in  point  of  chest,  endured  a 


MRS.   JORDAN  301 

continuance  of  exertion  that  was  certainly  too 
much  for  her  strength.  She  was  the  universal 
favourite  of  her  profession,  and  in  private  life 
affectionately  honoured  by  all  who  were  worthy 
of  her  society.  Her  manners  were  singularly  fas- 
cinating, as  a  happy  compound  of  elegance,  cor- 
diality, and  fine  temper.  In  my  first  play  I  had 
the  happiness  of  her  powerful  aid,  and  it  led  natu- 
rally to  a  friendly  intercourse,  which  I  valued  as  I 
ought  —  for  I  still  regret  her  loss. 

Mrs.  Jordan,  about  this  time,  without  ceremony 
introduced  herself  to  me,  and  as  she  wished  my 
opinion  upon  some  professional  points,  as  these 
occurred  she  referred  to  me  by  letter,  and  I  gave 
them  the  best  consideration  in  my  power.  I 
visited  her,  and  saw  her  young  family  about  her. 
It  was  natural  she  should  speak  of  the  few  oppor- 
tunities afforded  by  the  present  management  for 
distinguishing  herself,  and  the  retirement  of  Miss 
Farren  led  her  to  think  of  extending  her  range  of 
characters.  She  differed  radically  with  that  lady 
as  to  Lady  Teazle,  and  if  it  be  a  consistent  charac- 
ter, she  was  probably  right ;  but  the  only  finely 
drawn  and  masterly  personage  in  the  comedy  is 
Joseph  Surface,  and  it  was  acted  by  the  late  John 
Palmer  so  as  to  throw  every  other  part  into  the 


302  MRS.   JORDAN 

shade.  I  can  safely  add  that  his  smooth  hypocrite 
is  still  unapproached,  and  will  probably  remain  so. 

Wroughton,  as  an  old  Covent  Garden  actor, 
was  personally  acquainted  with  both  Morton  and 
Reynolds,  and  the  latter  gentleman  found  it  con- 
venient to  tender  through  him  a  comedy  to  Drury 
Lane  Theatre.  He  was  too  good  a  judge  of  the 
effective  to  pass  over  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  she  will- 
ingly accepted  the  part  designed  for  her.  The 
author  himself  has  given  a  whimsical  account  of 
the  effect  of  his  intrusion  upon  the  sacred  boards 
of  Drury  Lane  Theatre ;  and  he  is  borne  out  by 
the  contempt  which  the  concern  at  all  times  af- 
fected for  the  writers,  and  more  sometimes  than 
the  writers  of  the  rival  house.  Yet  surely,  if  they 
reflected  at  all,  there  was  nothing  very  despicable 
in  a  writer  who  could  attract  crowded  houses  for 
thirty  nights  together ;  nor  was  the  great  national 
theatre  so  exclusively  devoted  to  the  legitimate 
drama,  as  not  to  have  admitted  from  time  to  time 
much  indifferent  composition,  and  unfortunately, 
too,  as  irregular  as  it  was  dull. 

On  the  i  Qth  of  April,  the  great  experiment  was 
made  by  the  performance  of  the  comedy  of  the 
"Will."  Cumberland  had  planted  himself  in  the 
orchestra  to  watch  the  effect,  and  really  anticipat- 


MRS.   JORDAN  303 

ing  a  triumph  which  he  never  enjoyed.  At  the 
first  displeasure  expressed  by  the  audience,  he  left 
his  seat,  hurried  around  to  the  greenroom,  begged 
Wroughton  to  introduce  him  to  the  author,  and  at 
once  impertinently  addressed  him  thus  :  "  Let  this, 
young  gentleman,  be  a  lesson  to  you."  Wrough- 
ton felt  becoming  indignation  at  the  veteran's  use 
of  the  introduction  he  had  given  him.  Cumber- 
land hurried  back  to  his  station,  and  soon  had 
reason  to  think  the  author  not  quite  so  young  in 
the  profession  as  he  had  supposed  him. 

The  "Will,"  like  many  of  Cumberland's  own 
comedies,  was  a  novel  dramatised.  I  do  not  mean 
a  novel,  existing  as  such,  turned  into  a  play,  but 
the  same  kind  of  incidents,  and  in  equal  plenty, 
as  might  have  informed  with  bustle  the  usual 
three  volumes  allotted  by  the  great  writers  of  the 
day  to  their  romances  of  real  life.  Accordingly, 
it  would  take  three  full  pages  to  give  even  an  out- 
line of  the  plot.  As  Sheridan's  screen-scene,  in 
the  "School  for  Scandal,"  had  been  conceived 
from  the  work  in  which  he  found  his  Charles  and 
Joseph,  so  Reynolds  had  imagined  he  might  use 
the  discovery  of  the  philosopher  Square  in  the 
garret  of  Molly  Segrim,  and  accordingly  concealed 
Sir  Solomon  Cynic  in  a  recess  among  some  straw, 


304  MRS.  JORDAN 

and  a  curtain  is  drawn  before  him,  which  Dolly 
Rustic  tries  to  secure  by  running  his  cane  sword 
into  it  to  keep  it  close.  The  weapon  is  snatched 
out  by  Howard  to  chastise  Albina  in  the  disguise 
of  a  young  midshipman,  and  the  Cynic  is  discov- 
ered with  very  laughable  effect.  There  is  more 
humour  still,  for  we  have  a  haunted  room  and  the 
terrors  of  an  old  maid,  and  Albina  (Mrs.  Jordan) 
engaged  with  everybody,  and  animating  the  whole, 
as  much  by  her  generosity  and  justice  as  her  ec- 
centric humour  and  invention. 

Nothing  could  be  less  equivocal  than  the  suc- 
cess of  the  piece,  and  Mrs.  Jordan  had  at  length 
got  a  new  character,  which  was  likely  to  keep  the 
treasury  of  the  theatre  open  to  the  performers 
for  some  time  to  come.  It  was  after  this  comedy 
that  Mrs.  Jordan  spoke  the  "  Seven  Ages "  of 
"  Memory  "  Rogers ;  to  which  Andrews,  I  think  it 
was,  added  some  risible  novelties  for  effect.  It 
was  now  evidently  in  the  right  mouth,  and  was  a 
great  favourite  accordingly. 

The  28th  of  April  was  the  first  interruption 
given  to  the  "  Will "  in  its  run,  being  the  benefit 
night  of  John  Palmer.  He  revived  a  tragedy, 
written  by  Read,  the  rope-maker,  called  the 
"Queen  of  Carthage."  It  had  been  acted  in  1767 


MRS.   JORDAN  305 

also  for  a  benefit,  and  was  then  performed  by 
Powell,  Holland,  Bensley,  and  Mrs.  Yates.  To 
which,  longo  intervallo,  were  now  opposed  Barry- 
more,  Palmer,  Caulfield,  and  Mrs.  Siddons.  Again 
the  house  did  not  adopt  the  play,  though  ap- 
plauded. I  wish  the  publication  had  not  been 
suppressed,  that  I  might  have  contrasted  the  man- 
ners of  the  two  Didos.  How  Read  may  have 
written  the  play  I  can  barely  surmise ;  but  suppos- 
ing it  tolerable,  I  should  fancy  Yates  was  nearer 
the  classical,  or  rather  French  standard.  Palmer 
could  only  be  an  Ene"as  in  carnival  time.  After 
the  play,  Palmer,  who  was  fond  of  recitation, 
indulged  the  audience  with  a  repetition  of  Mr. 
Colman's  "  Nightgown  and  Slippers ; "  but  the 
decorum  of  a  public  assembly  was  insulted  by 
their  ludicrous  descriptions,  and  the  actor  received 
a  sensible  rebuke  with  suitable  acquiescence. 

Few  authors  have  been  of  more  essential  ser- 
vice to  the  theatre  than  Mr.  Prince  Hoare.  His 
farces  have  stood  the  test  of  time,  and  are  likely 
to  last  as  long  as  we  either  act  or  sing.  Upon 
Reynolds's  reception  at  Drury  Lane  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  he  at  once  crossed  over  to  Covent 
Garden  with  a  comic  opera,  called  the  "  Italian 
Villagers."  The  critics  said  it  had  some  resem- 


306  MRS.  JORDAN 

blance  to  "As  You  Like  It."  If  it  had,  it  is  the 
only  piece  that  ever  had  it ;  for  of  all  the  efforts 
of  the  mighty  author,  that  is  perhaps  the  most  de- 
lightful, exhibiting  rural  manners  that  are  neither 
affected  nor  clownish,  neither  Arcadian  nor  Spen- 
cerian,  with  lessons  intermixed,  by  which  the 
wisest  may  be  improved,  and  the  most  saturnine 
diverted.  As  to  the  fable  of  my  friend  Hoare, 
I  will  not  mar  a  curious  tale  by  telling  it,  nor  say 
more  of  his  opera  than  that  Quick,  Munden,  and 
Knight  had  very  entertaining  characters,  and 
played  them  well  for  the  six  scattered  nights  al- 
lotted to  the  piece. 

The  "  Tattlers,"  a  comedy,  by  the  late  Doctor 
Benjamin  Hoadly,  was  acted  for  a  single  night 
here  on  the  2Qth  of  April,  and  the  character  of 
Fanny  Alworthy  was  performed  by  Miss  Mansel, 
the  future  Mrs.  Reynolds.  But  the  essence  of 
the  subject  had  been  long  extracted,  and  the 
audience  grew  weary  of  what  might  have  delighted 
them  about  the  time  when  it  was  written  by  the 
doctor. 

The  next  interruption  given  to  the  "  Will "  was 
by  the  benefit  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  on  the  ist  of  May, 
intended  to  be  the  wedding-day  of  Miss  Farren, 
and  the  entertainments  of  the  bill  were  selected 


MRS.   JORDAN  307 

with  reference  to  that  event.  Mrs.  Piozzi,  it  was 
whispered,  had  written  an  address  for  Mrs.  Sid- 
dons,  to  wind  up  the  whole,  and  compliment  the 
noble  pair  by  some  apposite  allusions  to  the  titles 
of  the  pieces  selected.  "  To  anticipate  ill,  it  was 
said,  were  but  a  '  Fatal  Curiosity.'  "  This  was  the 
play.  "  Each  kindest  wish  waits  on  her  '  Wed- 
ding-day.' "  This  was  the  farce.  There  was  a 
third  piece,  which  completed  the  nuptial  allusions, 
thus  alluded  to :  "  If  'tis  not  happy,  why,  '  The 
Deuce  Is  in  'Em.'  " 

But  all  this  ingenuity  excited  a  laugh  in  the 
wrong  place,  for,  as  our  readers  remember,  the 
subject  of  Mrs.  Inchbald's  "Wedding-day"  was 
an  old  man  of  rank  marrying  a  young  woman,  and 
the  return  of  his  first  wife,  before  the  day  was 
over ;  and  Colman's  "  Deuce  Is  in  Him "  is  the 
ridicule  of  platonic  love.  There  could  be  no 
doubt  that  the  two  ladies  had  nothing  but  serious 
compliment  in  their  thoughts  ;  but  if  the  waggery 
of  Sheridan  had  designed  to  remind  the  lady  of 
the  "  Force  of  Ridicule,"  which  she  had  deserted 
so  lately,  he  could  not  have  found  materials  more 
exactly  suited  to  his  purpose. 

As  to  Mrs.  Jordan,  she  laughed  her  way  through 
Lady  Contest  with  infinite  glee :  her  only  comic 


308  MRS.   JORDAN 

rival  had  been  promoted  out  of  her  way,  and  left 
her,  in  every  comedy,  the  positive  choice  of  the 
character  she  should  play,  and,  accordingly,  she 
considerably  extended  her  range  by  occasional 
adoptions  of  the  woman  of  fashion  ;  but  nature 
had  fixed  her  to  unbounded  hilarity  and  deep  sen- 
sibility, and  the  goddess  seemed  to  desert  her 
when  she  assumed  such  characters  as  were  pro- 
duced by  fashion  rather  than  herself. 

Mr.  Cumberland's  extraordinary  behaviour  to 
Reynolds  was  soon  accounted  for;  he  had  a  new 
comedy  himself  in  preparation,  called  the  "  Last 
of  the  Family."  Mrs.  Jordan  was  the  heroine,  who 
is  the  daughter  of  a  man  fond  of  his  name,  and 
determined  to  impose  it  on  his  son-in-law.  This 
naturally  fixes  her  affections  upon  a  nameless 
youth  employed  to  write  the  family  history.  Her 
love  for  the  unknown  youth  speedily  dismisses 
him  from  his  task,  and  his  mistress  feigns  distrac- 
tion to  get  him  back  again.  He  turns  out  to  be 
her  first  cousin,  the  son  of  her  father's  brother, 
and  consequently  has  no  name  to  adopt.  It  lasted 
six  nights. 

Mrs.  Jordan  closed  the  Covent  Garden  season  by 
acting  Peggy  and  Nell,  most  kindly,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  Mr.  Haymes,  and  repeated  the  "Country 


MRS.   JORDAN  309 

Girl,"  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  February 
1 4th,  the  day  of  Lord  St.  Vincent's  glorious  vic- 
tory. She  addressed  now  every  creature  that 
needed  help,  in  the  language  of  Horatio  to  the 
ghost  of  Hamlet's  father. 

"  If  there  be  any  good  thing  to  be  done, 
That  may  to  thee  do  ease,  and  grace  to  me,  — 

Speak  to  me." 

In  short,  she  was  a  full  and  perfect  contrast  to 
those  whose  service  was  always  to  be  paid,  though 
exerted  even  for  a  relation. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

Death  of  Charles  Macklin  —  His  Works  Collected  by  Murphy  — 
Mrs.  Jordan's  Kind  Subscription  —  "The  Jew  That  Shake- 
speare Drew  "  —  Interpreted  by  Sir  Joseph  Mawbey  —  Dry- 
den's  "  CEdipus  "  —  Lines  in,  Applied  to  Macklin  —  Their 
Beauty  —  Lord  Mansfield's  Regard  for  Macklin  —  Note  —  His 
Lordship's  Opinion  on  the  French  Revolution  —  The  "  Heir 
at  Law"  —  "  Filthy  Dowlas"  —  "  Italian  Monk,"  at  the  Sum- 
mer Theatre  —  Mrs.  Jordan  visits  Richmond  and  Margate  — 
Sees  Mrs.  Abington  in  Beatrice  —  Her  Excellence  in  the 
Character — Miss  Betterton,  Since  Mrs.  Glover  —  The  Chasm 
at  Drury  —  How  Miss  Farren  Was  to  Be  Replaced  —  Miss 
Humphreys  in  Lady  Emily  —  Miss  Biggs  in  the  "  Irish 
Widow" — Miss  Decamp  a  Lover  in  the  "Chimney  Comer" 

—  Mrs.  Jordan  in  Sir  Edward  Bloomley  —  Defects  of  "  Cheap 
Living  "  —  Jordan  Rather  Restive  —  Again  Quite  the  Duchess 

—  Her  Happy  Illustration  of  That  Title  —  Mrs.  Crawford's 
Idle   Return  —  Lord  Duncan's  Victory  —  Mrs.   Jordan  Acts 
for  the  Sufferers  —  Something  Fine  —  Kemble  Acts  Hotspur 

—  John  Palmer's  Death  in  the  Summer  —  Effects  of  It  in 
the  Theatre. 

the  nth  of  July,  1797,  died  the  long- 
celebrated  Charles  Macklin,  and  it  may 
be  said  the  stage  lost  its  father  in  more 
senses  than  that  of  senility.  He  attained  the 
great  age  of  ninety-seven  years,  and  was  honoured 

310 


MRS.   JORDAN  311 

equally  for  his  talents  and  his  virtues.  It  was 
late  in  his  life  when  I  first  saw  him  act,  but  I  am 
bound  to  say  that,  in  what  he  did,  he  was  a  model, 
not  only  of  manly  force,  but  critical  acuteness. 
He  lived  at  a  time  when  Johnson  had  made  it  a 
fashion  for  the  old  to  be  dogmatical,  and  Macklin 
availed  himself  fully  of  his  privilege.  The  decline 
of  life  had  been  rendered  comfortable  by  the  sub- 
scription to  his  works  edited  by  Arthur  Murphy. 
Mrs.  Jordan  sent  him  ten  pounds  on  this  occasion. 
He  died,  where  he  had  long  lived,  in  Tavistock 
Row,  Covent  Garden  —  he  had  a  metropolitan 
constitution,  and  loved  London  sincerely ;  the 
verge  of  the  old  convent  used  to  be  an  actor's 
sanctuary. 

We  have  all  heard  of  the  distich,  called  an  im- 
promptu, of  the  poet  Pope's  : 

"  This  is  the  Jew 
That  Shakespeare  drew." 

But  few  of  us,  I  believe,  ever  conceived  their 
meaning  to  be  doubtful.  It  was  a  "  nice  discern- 
ment between  good  and  ill,"  as  B.  Jonson  speaks, 
that  led  Sir  Joseph  Mawbey  to  think  what  he 
expresses  so  ingenuously  in  a  letter  before  me : 
"  In  applying  the  couplet,  I  was  led  to  suppose, 


312  MRS.   JORDAN 

improperly,  that  his  own  mind  and  not  the  assumed 
character  described  the  man."  When  he  gets  right, 
even,  the  baronet's  expression  does  not  become 
much  clearer.  Why,  then,  the  assumed  character 
did  describe  the  man,  and  that  (Shylock's)  was  a 
bad  one.  Which  he  now  would  not  say. 

The  application  of  Dryden's  lines  in  "  CEdipus  " 
to  Charles  Macklin  is  so  just  and  elegant,  that  the 
reader  may  be  glad  to  read  them  once  more,  even 
if  they  live  in  his  memory.  The  intense  school  of 
poetry,  believe  me,  has  not  surpassed  them. 

"  Of  no  distemper,  of  no  blast  he  died, 
But  fell  like  autumn-fruit  that  mellow'd  long, 
Ev'n  wonder'd  at,  because  he  dropped  no  sooner. 
Fate  seem'd  to  wind  him  up  for  fourscore  years, 
Yet  freely  ran  he  on  ten  winters  more ; 
Till,  like  a  clock  worn  out  with  eating  time, 
The  wheels  of  weary  life,  at  last,  stood  still." 

The  student  in  expressive  harmony  will  find  the 
last  line,  in  particular,  possessed  of  imitative  exact- 
ness even  astonishing.  The  slight  suspensive 
pause  before  and  after  the  words  "at  last,"  will 
render  the  closing  foot  of  the  verse  immovable. 

All  the  passages  of  Macklin 's  life  had  a  degree 
of  mystery  about  them  which  rarely  attends  a 
man  so  honourable  as  he  undoubtedly  was.  As  a 


MRS.   JORDAN  313 

number  of  his  mystifications  happened  when  he 
certainly  had  no  failure  of  memory,  he  must  have 
amused  himself  with  the  silly  curiosity  around  him, 
and  invented  circumstances  for  the  occasion.  He 
was  in  his  thirty-fourth  year  before  he  appeared 
upon  the  London  stage ;  acted  his  twenty  years, 
and  retired  from  it,  as  far  back  as  the  year  1753. 
He  then  seems  to  have  recovered  the  strength  he 
had  lost,  and  the  powers  of  his  mind  enabled  him 
to  give  perfection  to  his  masterwork,  called  the 
"Man  of  the  World."  Its  dialogue  is  distin- 
guished by  an  almost  political  point  and  force,  and 
the  character  of  Sir  Archy  MacSarcasm  received 
from  the  performance  of  its  author  a  perfection 
which  has  not  attended  any  other  dramatic  repre- 
sentation in  my  remembrance.  Compared  with 
Macklin,  Cooke  was  noisy  and  vulgar  —  he  could 
not  bow ;  he  had  no  "  insidious  humility  "  to  make 
a  show  with,  —  it  was  effective,  but  that  was  all. 
Macklin  was  "the  true  and  perfect  image  of  life 
indeed." 

His  wife  and  daughter  were  ornaments  of  the 
stage  also,  and  Garrick  was  often  indebted  to  the 
volunteer  kindness  of  Miss  Macklin  for  a  heroine, 
when  his  own  ladies  chose  to  be  too  ill  to  appear 
on  a  weak  night.  I  am  little  disposed  certainly  to 


314  MRS.   JORDAN 

compliment  the  present  at  the  expense  of  the  past, 
but  I  am  compelled  to  say  that,  however  inferior 
in  some  points  to  their  great  predecessors,  the 
actresses  of  the  modern  stage  at  least  do  their 
duty  steadily  to  the  managers  and  the  public.  He 
is  buried  in  the  same  vault  with  an  only  son  in  the 
churchyard  of  St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  and  was 
attended  to  his  grave  by  Mr.  Hull  and  Mr.  Munden, 
the  treasurer,  and  other  officers  of  the  theatre,  and 
a  few  private  friends. 

It  is  hardly  extraneous  to  the  subject  of  the 
theatre  to  notice  that  the  great  Lord  Mansfield 
preceded  Macklin  by  a  few  months,  and  expired 
at  the  venerable  age  of  eighty-nine  years.  When 
Macklin  had  brought  his  enemies  to  his  feet,  and 
refused  the  damages  which  the  jury  had  awarded 
to  him,  that  illustrious  man  said  to  him,  "  Mr. 
Macklin,  you  never  acted  better  in  your  life."  It 
was  a  compliment  to  make  a  man  proud.1 

The   summer   of    1797   was   distinguished   by, 

1  I  beg  the  reader's  indulgence,  while  I  return  to  Lord  Mans- 
field for  a  few  moments.  We  live  in  a  period  that  may  be  called 
exclusively  the  commercial,  or  the  moneyed  age ;  the  dependence, 
that  cherished  all  the  virtues  by  binding  men  to  each  other,  is  at 
an  end ;  every  man  now  thinks  and  acts,  as  Coriolanus  says : 

"  As  if  a  man  were  author  of  himself, 
And  knew  no  other  kin." 


MRS.   JORDAN  315 

perhaps,  the  best  comedy  of  the  younger  Colman, 
the  "  Heir  at  Law,"  a  play  entirely  suggested  by 
a  short  colloquy  between  Sir  John  Falstaff  and 
Mrs.  Quickly,  the  substitution  of  "  Dowlas  !  filthy 
dowlas !  for  Holland  of  eight  shillings  an  ell ; " 
Daniel  Dowlas,  the  chandler,  for  the  real  Lord 
Duberly.  The  Dowlasses,  and  their  household 
refiner,  Doctor  Pangloss,  excited,  and  will  always 

At  such  a  time,  when  revolutions  are  again  menacing  the 
repose  of  the  world,  the  opinion  of  Lord  Mansfield,  given  to  his 
friend  Doctor  Turton,  on  the  French  nation  about  1792,  merits 
the  deliberate  attention  of  those  who  think. 

"Mv  DEAR  TURTON:  —  How  can  any  two  reasonable  men 
think  differently  on  the  subject  ?  A  nation  which,  for  more 
than  twelve  centuries,  has  made  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the 
annals  of  Europe ;  a  nation  where  the  polite  arts  first  flourished 
in  the  northern  hemisphere,  and  found  an  asylum  against  the 
barbarous  incursions  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals ;  a  nation  whose 
philosophers  and  men  of  science  cherished  and  improved  civilisa- 
tion, and  grafted  on  the  feudal  system,  the  best  of  all  systems, 
their  laws  respecting  the  descents  and  various  modifications  of 
territorial  property  I  To  think  that  a  nation  like  this  should  not, 
in  the  course  of  so  many  centuries,  have  learned  something  worth 
preserving,  should  not,  in  the  course  of  so  many  centuries,  have 
hit  upon  some  little  code  of  laws,  or  a  few  principles  sufficient  to 
form  one !  Idiots  1  who,  instead  of  retaining  what  was  valuable, 
sound,  and  energetic  in  their  constitution,  have  at  once  sunk  into 
barbarity,  lost  sight  of  first  principles,  and  brought  forward  a 
farrago  of  laws  fit  for  Botany  Bay  1  It  is  enough  to  fill  the  mind 
with  astonishment  and  abhorrence  1  A  constitution  like  this  may 
survive  that  of  an  old  man,  but  nothing  less  than  a  miracle  can 
protect  and  transmit  it  down  to  posterity." 


316  MRS.   JORDAN 

excite,  the  hearty  laugh  of  genuine  comedy,  when 
the  sickly  sentiment,  which  had  long,  and  perhaps 
of  necessity,  usurped  its  place,  shall  be  buried 
in  oblivion.  I  must  be  of  opinion  that  genuine 
laughable  comedy  is  the  most  difficult  of  all 
compositions ;  I  mean,  in  course,  on  this  side 
of  extravagance.  Both  Suett  and  Fawcett  were 
unrivalled. 

On  the  subject  of  my  own,  or,  in  honest  truth, 
Mrs.  RadclifF s  "  Italian  Monk,"  brought  out  in 
the  same  season,  I  shall  say  nothing,  but  that 
it  was  well  received,  and  did,  I  believe,  service  to 
the  theatre.  I  am  sure  the  liberal  payment  of  Mr. 
Colman  was  of  great  service  to  me.  It  was  one- 
third  of  nine  nights,  after  expenses. 

Mrs.  Jordan  passed  the  present  summer  between 
Richmond  and  Margate.  The  opening  season  of 
Covent  Garden,  or  winter  of  1797-98,  afforded  her 
an  opportunity  of  again  seeing  Mrs.  Abington,  to 
whom  her  mother  had  acted  the  first  Constantia 
formerly  upon  the  Irish  stage.  She  returned  to 
Mr.  Harris  after  an  absence  of  six  years,  and  I 
saw  her  performance  of  Beatrice,  which,  in  point 
of  skill,  was  equal  to  the  efforts  of  her  best  time ; 
but  she  had  enlarged  her  figure,  and  her  face,  too, 
by  time,  and  could  perhaps  fascinate  no  one,  with- 


Etched  by  W.  Boucher,  from  a  painting  by  (iain>borough.     In 
tht-  n  of  Mrs.  Kay 


MRS.   JORDAN  317 

out  the  aid  of  recollection  on  his  part.  She  was 
no  longer  the  "  glass  of  fashion "  that  she  had 
once  been ;  the  modern  costume  a  la  Grecque  did 
not  suit  her;  she  was  now  a  matronly  Beatrice; 
but,  while  alive,  the  character  clung  to  her  closely, 
and,  in  the  year  1815,  sunk  into  the  grave  along 
with  her,  I  will  not  say  never  to  return,  though 
that  is  extremely  probable,  unless,  indeed,  it 
should  be  decorated  with  the  harmonies  of  some 
future  Bishop,  and  "  Much  Ado  about  Nothing," 
convert  this  comedy,  like  many  others,  into  an 
opera,  to  save  a  sinking  theatre.  Which  the  spirit 
of  good  taste  (if  such  a  spirit  there  be),  in  mercy 
to  the  fame  of  Shakespeare  avert ! 

Previous  to  her  appearance,  which  was  on  the 
6th  of  October,  Murray  spoke  an  address  written 
by  Mr.  Colman,  which  referred  to  the  school  of 
Garrick,  and  the  nature  to  which  it  professed  to 
adhere,  but  sure,  as  it  happened  in  the  case  of 
Shakespeare  himself,  so  well  remembered  by  B. 
Jonson,  — 

"  Thy  art, 
My  gentle  Garrick,  must  sustain  a  part." 

This  art,  it  is  true,  always  tended  to  make  the 
imitation  of  nature  more  perfect,  by  the  filling 
up  of  numberless  chasms,  which  mere  language 


318  MRS.   JORDAN 

must  always  leave  to  the  actor,  in  the  most 
finished  character  ever  drawn  by  a  dramatic 
poet. 

The  coincidences  of  life  are  many,  and  often 
singular.  At  the  very  time  that  Mrs.  Abington 
was  evincing  to  us  what  her  powers  had  been,  by 
what  they  still  were,  Mr.  Harris  displayed,  in  the 
person  of  Miss  Betterton,  from  the  Bath  theatre, 
the  only  actress  who  ever,  in  the  slightest  degree, 
resembled  her.  Then,  however,  she  was  con- 
sidered as  a  tragedian,  which  naturally  she  was 
not,  and  acted  Elwina  in  the  "  Percy "  of  Miss 
More.  She  was  an  early  proficient  in  the  studies 
of  her  profession,  and  possessed  a  sound  and  crit- 
ical understanding.  This  young  lady  is  now  Mrs. 
Glover,  the  ablest  actress  in  existence.  But  we 
have  the  misfortune  to  live  in  a  girlish  age,  and 
womanhood  is  a  disqualification.  Things  in  their 
nonage,  like  the  boys  that,  "aiery  of  children," 
that  so  annoyed  Shakespeare,  and  then  berattled 
the  common  stage,  now  possess  it  merely.  A  true 
genius,  however,  is  welcome  at  whatever  age,  but 
then,  as  a  glorious  exception,  let  the  due  honours 
unaccompanied  invest  her  only. 

At  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  they  were  looking  to 
supply  a  fearful  chasm  indeed :  that  left  by  Miss 


MRS.   JORDAN  319 

Farren  in  the  "  Heiress."  As  far  as  figure  went, 
Miss  Humphreys,  whom  I  always  looked  upon  as 
a  Jewess,  might  represent  Lady  Emily  Gayville, 
or  any  other  lady  of  fashionable  exterior ;  but  the 
broken  irregularity,  always  visible  in  the  features 
of  the  fairest  daughter  of  Israel,  destroyed  her 
beauty  while  she  was  speaking  —  she  was  only  a 
fine  woman  while  acting  the  silent  one. 

Miss  Biggs,  from  the  Bath  stage,  succeeded  her 
on  the  i /th  of  October,  and  on  the  whole  pos- 
sessed most  requisites  for  the  situation.  Miss 
Farren  did  not  wear  the  male  habit  —  Miss  Biggs 
wore  it  with  ease  to  herself,  and  yet  without 
effrontery.  She  acted  the  Irish  Widow  with  great 
spirit,  and  received  the  highest  encouragement. 
For  the  most  part,  I  like  the  assumption  of  the 
male  attire  better  than  the  adoption  of  the  sex. 
Miss  Decamp  had  become  a  lover  in  a  farce  by 
Walsh  Porter,  called  the  "Chimney  Corner,"  and 
Mrs.  Jordan  was  next  to  be  received  as  a  young  and 
dissipated  baronet,  called  Sir  Edward  Bloomley,  in 
the  comedy  called  "Cheap  Living,"  by  which 
Reynolds,  now  a  denizen  of  Drury,  followed  his 
"Will"  on  the  2ist  of  October. 

As  the  fable  of  the  "  Will "  was  a  volume  itself, 
so  "  Cheap  Living  "  had  no  story  to  tell.  Charles 


320  MRS.   JORDAN 

Woodland,  having  rescued  Miss  Bloomley  from 
robbers,  has  the  passport  of  gratitude  to  her  affec- 
tions, and  robs  her  of  her  honour.  Neither  of  the 
lovers,  however,  are  happy  without  the  tardy  repa- 
ration of  religion.  Sir  Edward  Bloomley  preserves 
Charles  Woodland  from  being  disinherited,  and  a 
man,  called  Sponge,  eats  and  drinks  his  way 
through  the  piece,  and  by  this  cheap  living  gives  a 
title  to  the  play,  in  which  he  has  nothing  else  to 
do.  So  that  the  efficient  characters  in  the  piece 
are  neither  of  them  principals,  and  are  there  only 
to  display  the  meanness  of  the  one,  and  the  cun- 
ning, vicious  prematurity  of  the  other.  It  was 
merely  a  pair  of  lovers,  to  supply  a  decided  attach- 
ment of  two  of  the  performers,  —  a  frolic  for 
Mrs.  Jordan  and  a  bustle  for  Bannister, — with 
two  hypocrites  to  the  tune  of  Palmer  and 
Miss  Pope,  with  a  slight  network  only  to  keep 
the  odd  fish  together.  All  immoral,  dishonest 
persons. 

If  Cumberland  had  walked  up  now  to  him  out 
of  the  orchestra,  the  indignant  "  mender  of  hearts  " 
had  been  justified.  The  truth  was,  it  was  a  very 
hasty  "  Margate  excursion "  of  the  author,  and 
wanted  much  of  his  usual  adroitness.  Mrs.  Jor- 
dan did  not  like  her  character,  and  seemed  dis- 


MRS.   JORDAN  321 

posed  at  one  time  to  decline  it  altogether. 
Wroughton's  friendship  for  the  author  or  anxi- 
ety for  the  theatre  made  him  notice  her  discontent 
at  rehearsal  with  some  sharpness.  "Why,  you 
are  grand,  madam  —  quite  the  duchess  again  this 
morning."  "Very  likely,"  replied  Mrs.  Jordan, 
"  for  you  are  not  the  first  person  this  very  day 
who  has  condescended  to  honour  me  ironically 
with  the  title."  Then,  without  the  slightest  pique 
(says  Reynolds  himself),  and  with  all  her  charac- 
teristic humour,  she  told  us  that,  having  that 
morning  discharged  her  Irish  cook  for  imperti- 
nence, when  she  paid  her  the  wages  due  to  her 
the  indignant  daughter  of  St.  Patrick  showed  her 
a  shilling,  and,  banging  it  down  upon  the  table, 
exclaimed : 

"  Arrah  now,  honey,  with  this  thirteener  won't 
I  sit  in  the  gallery  ?  and  won't  your  Royal 
Grace  give  me  a  curtsey  ?  and  won't  I  give  your 
Royal  Highness  a  howl,  and  a  hiss  into  the  bar- 
gain?" 

The  word  condescended,  used  by  Mrs.  Jordan, 
while  it  levelled  the  manager  with  her  cook,  amply 
corrected  his  very  unpolite  behaviour,  and  intro- 
duced her  story  in  the  true  way.  It  may  be  ob- 
served here  that  the  lower  class  of  the  Irish  have 


322  MRS.   JORDAN 

more  humour  in  their  anger  than  those  of  any 
other  nation  under  the  sun. 

How  few,  in  the  profession  of  the  stage,  know 
the  true  period  for  retiring  from  it,  or,  if  they  do, 
find  it  convenient  to  retire.  This  reflection  is  ex- 
torted from  me  by  the  return  of  Mrs.  Crawford 
in  the  character  of  Lady  Randolph,  with  Harry 
Johnston  for  her  Norval,  on  the  23d  of  the  month, 
at  Covent  Garden  Theatre.  It  was  an  appearance 
for  the  benefit  alone  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  and  left  her 
the  palm,  which  the  memory  of  some,  and  the 
inclination  of  more,  up  to  that  moment  denied 
her. 

The  sufferers  in  Lord  Duncan's  glorious  action 
on  the  coast  of  Holland  left  their  relatives  to  the 
benevolence  of  their  countrymen,  and  the  theatres 
became  receivers  of  their  bounty  in  the  disguise 
of  their  pleasure.  Mrs.  Jordan  acted  for  them, 
thus  adding  the  deed  to  the  will,  followed  by  the 
prize.  Cumberland  contributed  an  address,  which 
was  spoken  by  Wroughton,  not,  perhaps,  quite 
equal  to  that  of  Richardson  for  Howe ;  indeed, 
one  couplet  seemed  completely  Delia  Cruscan,  or 
the  muse  of  Rob.  Merry: 

"In  the  mid-watch,  night's  melancholy  noon, 
Humming  their  ditty  to  the  pale-fac'd  moon," 


MRS.   JORDAN  323 

But  on  such  occasions  something  fine  is  always 
expected,  and  we  must  attend  to  the  warning  only 
of  Lady  Macbeth : 

"  Think  of  this,  good  peers,  but  as  a  trick  of  custom." 

Kemble  had  been  kept  from  acting  Hotspur  in 
London  by  the  want  of  a  Falstaff.  A  Mr.  Long- 
ley,  on  the  2  $th  of  November,  afforded  him  an 
opportunity  of  showing  us  the  hero  of  the  North, 
but  the  candidate  for  the  honours  of  Falstaff  could 
not  decline  "  the  word  honour "  on  his  examina- 
tion, and  was  put  aside.  Drury  Lane  offered  a 
Mr.  Archer,  moreover,  in  the  character  of  Shy- 
lock,  with  about  equal  miscarriage.  Such  trifling 
in  the  national  theatre  was  monstrous.  If  the 
reader  will  allow  me  to  cast  the  "First  Part  of 
Henry  IV."  from  the  two  companies,  he  will 
see  how  a  play  should  be  acted :  The  King, 
Bensley  ;  the  Prince,  Lewis  ;  Hotspur,  Kemble  ; 
Glendower,  Digges ;  Poins,  C.  Kemble ;  Bar- 
dolph,  Moody  ;  Falstaff,  Henderson  ;  and  Mistress 
Quickly,  Mrs.  Davenport  —  and  I  hope,  as  Peter 
Quince  says,  here  is  a  play  fitted  !  But  at  one 
time,  you  cuckoo  ?  No,  not  any  one  time,  I 
entirely  believe. 

Matthew  George  Lewis,  the  son  of  the  deputy 


324  MRS.  JORDAN 

secretary  at  war,  has  been  familiarly,  perhaps 
complimentarily,  called  Monk  Lewis,  from  a  ro- 
mance written  by  him,  of  which  the  genius  and 
the  indecorum  are  about  equal.  He  was  a  scholar, 
fashionable  in  his  connections,  fond  of  the  thea- 
tre, and  more  than  a  melodramatic  writer,  though 
wedded  to  such  stage  effects  and  skilful  in  pro- 
ducing them.  He  brought  out,  on  the  I4th  of 
December,  a  dramatic  romance  called  the  "  Castle 
Spectre,"  a  piece  really  of  one  scene,  but  that  so 
astonishingly  beautiful,  that  it  drew  crowds  to  the 
theatre,  and  very  nearly  restored  the  house  of 
Sheridan.  The  secret  of  this  spectre  was  ex- 
tremely well  kept ;  the  bill  of  the  day  gave  not 
a  glimpse  of  light  beyond  the  mere  title,  and  the 
actors  in  the  piece  answered  to  all  kind  inquirers 
as  to  who  the  spectre  was,  or  by  whom  represented, 
"  You'll  see."  The  set  scene  in  this  theatre  had 
an  oratory  with  a  perforated  door  of  pure  Gothic, 
over  which  was  a  window  of  rich  tracery,  and  Mrs. 
Jordan,  who  played  Angela,  being  on  the  stage,  a 
brilliant  illumination  suddenly  took  place,  and  the 
doors  of  the  oratory  opened :  the  light  was  per- 
fectly celestial,  and  a  majestic  and  lovely,  but 
melancholy  image  stood  before  us ;  at  this  mo- 
ment, in  a  low  but  sweet  and  thrilling  harmony, 


MRS.  JORDAN  325 

the  band  played  the  strain  of  Jomelli's  chaconne, 
in  his  celebrated  overture,  in  three  flats.  Every 
hearer  exclaimed : 

"  This  is  no  mortal  business,  nor  no  sound 
That  the  earth  owns." 

And  the  figure  began  slowly  to  advance ;  it  was 
the  spirit  of  Angela's  mother,  Mrs.  Powell,  in  all 
her  beauty,  with  long  sweeping  envelopments  of 
muslin  attached  to  the  wrist,  and  picture  as- 
suredly has  never  approached  the  effect,  though 
it  may  have  suggested  it.  Mrs.  Jordan  cowered 
down  motionless,  with  terror,  and  Mrs.  Powell  bent 
over  her  prostrate  daughter  in  maternal  benedic- 
tion. In  a  few  minutes  she  entered  the  oratory 
again,  the  doors  closed,  and  darkness  once  more 
enveloped  the  heroine  and  the  scene. 

As  to  the  strain  from  Jomelli,  its  quality  may 
be  gathered  from  one  circumstance.  My  friend 
Atwood,  who,  as  a  composer,  needs  no  praise  of 
mine,  converted  it  to  the  choir  service ;  and  I  my- 
self heard  him  play  it  as  the  response  in  the 
litany  to  the  deep  murmur  of  the  organ  in  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  and  also  in  the  king's  chapel  at 
Windsor,  and  I  am  sure  his  master,  Mozart,  would 
have  applauded  his  taste. 


326  MRS.   JORDAN 

I  borrow  from  myself  what  I  have  before  written 
as  to  my  friend  Kemble  in  the  present  play : 
"  There  was  one  remarkable  point  of  character  in 
Mr.  Kemble ;  that,  out  of  the  management,  and 
where  responsibility  was  upon  others,  he  was  the 
gentlest  of  all  great  actors  —  he  would  do  any- 
thing." So  that  when  he  was  cast  into  Percy,  in 
the  present  piece,  a  sort  of  Harlequin  hero,  who 
gets  into  his  enemy's  castle  after  his  Columbine, 
Angela,  he  had  to  climb  from  a  sofa  to  a  Gothic 
window,  and,  being  alarmed  by  the  stirring  of  his 
black  guards,  he  has  to  fall  from  the  height  flat 
again  at  his  length  upon  the  said  sofa,  and  seem 
asleep,  as  they  had  before  seen  him.  This  he  did 
as  boldly  and  suddenly  as  if  he  had  been  shot. 
When  people  complimented  him  upon  his  unsus- 
pected agility,  "  Nay,"  he  used  to  say,  "  gentlemen, 
Mr.  Boaden  has  exceeded  all  compliment  upon 
this  feat  of  mine,  for  he  counselled  me  from  '  Mac- 
beth,' to 

«« « Jump  the  life  to  come.' " 

But  it  was  melancholy  to  see  the  abuse  of  such 
talents.  It  is  only  in  a  barn  that  the  Cato  of  a 
company  should  be  allowed  to  risk  his  neck. 

The  term  black  guards,  used  above,  alludes  to 
the  African  servants  in  the  play. 


MRS.   JORDAN  327 

As  a  disgusting  flippancy  was  now  become  the 
established  characteristic  of  a  preface,  the  author 
thus  vindicates  the  colour  he  has  given  to  these 
guards  of  Percy :  "  I  thought  it  would  give  a 
pleasing  variety  to  the  characters  if  I  made  my 
servants  black ;  and  could  I  have  produced  the 
same  effect  by  making  my  heroine  blue,  blue  I 
should  have  made  her."  Thus  happily  remember- 
ing one  of  the  associations  of  language  used  to 
describe  a  bruise,  black  and  blue.  This  principle 
of  thinking  only  of  effect  seems  to  have  coloured 
his  dialogue  also  ;  for,  before  the  fifteenth  century, 
we  have  the  following  anachronisms :  "  a  sheet 
of  foolscap,"  "kissing  and  smuggling,"  "an  over- 
grown turtle,"  "  I  heard  the  guitar,"  "  plain  cherry- 
brandy,"  "Saib  advances  a  sofa."  His  dresses 
also  were  fashioned  for  effect  alone,  and  the  fool 
of  the  play  was  red  on  one  side  and  white  on  the 
other  —  with  a  "cocked  hat,"  a  "ruffled  shirt," 
"short  breeches,"  and  "silk  stockings."  The 
reader  sees  what  a  narrow  escape  Mrs.  Jordan 
had  from  a  "  blue  skin ; "  of  which  the  effect 
would  have  been  far  from  celestial,  which  was  not 
the  case  as  to  her  dress,  which  was  the  picturesque 
angelic.  Enough  of  the  antiquary. 

The  "  Castle  Spectre  "  was  acted  forty-six  times 


328  MRS.   JORDAN 

between  the  I4th  of  December,  1797,  and  the  close 
of  the  season,  in  June.  Lewis,  aware  of  his  ser- 
vices, in  a  dispute  with  Sheridan  once  offered  to 
bet  him  all  the  money  his  play  had  brought  into 
the  treasury.  "  No,"  replied  the  wit,  "  I  can't 
afford  to  do  that,  but  I'll  bet  you  all  it  is  worth." 
Wit  is  seldom  so  just  a  measure  of  obligation  as 
arithmetic.  Sheridan  should  never  have  attacked 
Lewis  in  Westminster  Hall  for  merely  endeavour- 
ing to  obtain  the  money  due  to  him.  Nor  should 
Colman  have  fallen  foul  of  the  ponderous  machin- 
ery, processions,  and  castles,  and  elephants  of  the 
great  theatre,  if  he  himself  ever  intended  to  em- 
ploy, and  even  extend,  the  costly  pageantry.  This, 
however,  he  did  on  the  i6th  of  January,  1798,  by 
the  production  of  the  well-known  grand  spectacle 
called  "Bluebeard,"  which  Mrs.  Jordan  stayed  to 
see  after  acting  the  Country  Girl.  Everything 
worked  ill.  The  grand  cavalcade  in  the  moun- 
tains, seen  for  half  an  hour  to  the  same  march  (a 
very  fine  one),  with  the  small  elephants,  needing 
the  Gulliver-like  aid  of  the  scene-shifter,  to  get 
them  through  the  defiles,  and  the  horrible  bog- 
gling at  the  destruction  of  Abomelique,  merited 
almost  a  second  preface  from  the  author  of  the 
"Iron  Chest."  But,  upon  the  whole,  it  was  per- 


MRS.   JORDAN  329 

formed  so  well,  and  was  so  truly  splendid,  that  it 
has  never  been  surpassed  in  my  remembrance.  If 
I  were  to  select  the  most  prominent  merit  it  had,  I 
should  clearly  name  the  sister  of  the  heroine, 
Irene,  by  Miss  Decamp,  who  looked,  and  acted, 
and  sang,  in  such  a  way  as  to  prove  herself  the 
first  melodramatic  actress  that  had  been  seen 
among  us.  It  ran  on  just  like  the  "  Castle  Spec- 
tre," and  must  have  produced  immense  receipts, 
attended,  it  is  true,  with  no  slight  expense  of 
dresses,  decorations,  and  supernumeraries. 

Mrs.  Jordan  now  really  played  every  night,  for 
when  the  "Castle  Spectre"  was  not  performed, 
the  "  Country  Girl  "  or  the  "  Confederacy"  called 
her  out,  or  she  supported  the  "  Will,"  which  out- 
lived "  Cheap  Living  "  by  many  a  season.  How- 
ever, a  little  relief  was  promised,  and  given,  by  the 
production  of  Kotzebue's  "  Stranger  "  on  the  24th 
of  March,  1798,  and  Sheridan  himself  had  been 
induced  by  his  new  ally,  Mr.  Grubb,  to  read  and 
improve  the  translated  play  as  Mr.  Thompson 
delivered  it.  He  wrote  the  song  which  Mrs. 
Bland  sang  in  the  Stranger's  hearing,  and  which 
echoed  the  exact  feelings  of  his  own  wife,  to  a 
tune  which  was  familiar  to  his  ear.  I  have  done 
with  the  controversy  about  this  play  ;  for  what  sig- 


330  MRS.  JORDAN 

nifies  the  reasoning  where  every  heart  is  touched, 
and  every  eye  is  suffused  with  tears  ?  Reynolds 
has  ludicrously  quarrelled  with  Mrs.  Haller  for 
giving  away  the  old  six-and-twenty  hock.  She 
conceived  no  wine  too  good  for  the  weak  and  mis- 
erable. Oh,  these  writers  of  comedy !  I  wonder 
the  following  stage  direction  escaped  him  :  "  The 
baron  stands  opposite  to  Mrs.  Haller,  and  from 
time  to  time  casts  a  glance  at  her,  in  which  his 
heart  is  swimming." 

Kemble  told  me  that  in  the  "  Stranger "  he 
should  throw  his  Penruddock  into  the  shade,  and 
I  hardly  believed  that  possible ;  but  Kotzebue  had 
a  power  infinitely  beyond  Cumberland,  and  the 
sudden  meeting  of  the  Stranger  and  Mrs.  Haller, 
the  conclusion  of  the  fourth  act,  and  the  last  scene 
of  the  play  are  among  the  most  exquisite  things  of 
any  stage.  I  am  not  a  German  critic,  and  cannot 
tell  whether  his  style  be  equal  to  that  of  Schiller, 
but  I  suspect  it  is  not.  Yet  the  plays  of  Schil- 
ler have  little  pathos,  though  they  have  a  wild, 
irregular  greatness,  that  claims  a  relation  to 
Shakespeare.  Let  me  say  that  Mr.  Kemble  here 
showed  himself  in  the  highest  power  of  his  art,  and 
if  possible,  extended  his  reputation.  Mrs.  Siddons 
had  not  equal  metal  to  work,  but  she  fashioned  it 


MRS.   JORDAN  331 

with  great  skill,  and  excited  the  sobs  of  her  fair 
hearers  in  abundance. 

On  the  i  Qth  of  May,  O'Keefe  tried  the  effect  at 
Drury  Lane  of  a  comedy  he  had  written  for  Mrs. 
Jordan.  It  was  called  "  She's  Eloped,"  a  very 
bad  title,  containing  an  equivocal  contraction  and 
an  injudicious  discovery.  Poor  man  !  he  was  then 
for  the  only  time  led  into  the  greenroom  by  Mrs. 
Powell,  and  decided  against  the  prologue  to  his 
play,  in  which  Cumberland,  I  think  it  was,  talked 
of  Homer  and  his  poverty  and  his  blindness,  and 
the  proud  pang  of  a  wounded  spirit  came  over 
him.  Mrs.  Jordan,  however,  could  not  preserve 
the  comedy,  though  she  acted  Arabel,  and  spoke 
an  epilogue  written  by  M.  G.  Lewis.  O'Keefe 
has  these  allusions  to  his  play  and  Mrs.  Jordan  : 

"  For  she's  eloped,  her  gentle  heart  much  griev'd : 

That  jilt,  call'd  Fortune,  ceas'd  to  use  me  well 
My  comic  efforts  were  but  ill  receiv'd  ; 
With  Dora  tho'  she  came,  frowns  greet  my  Arabel." 

The  night  preceding  Smith  came  to  town  to  act 
Charles,  in  the  "School  for  Scandal,"  for  his  old 
friend  King's  benefit.  He  now,  as  to  Mrs.  Jor- 
dan, saw  his  prophttie  accomplie.  She  was  at  the 
summit  of  the  profession,  and  to  the  theatre, 
which  he  loved,  invaluable.  His  discernment  in  this 


332  MRS.   JORDAN 

case  may  atone  for  his  absurd  puffing  of  the  young 
Roscius ;  but  Smith  did  not  love  John  Kemble. 

The  summer  of  1798  was  rendered  remarkable 
in  the  history  of  the  stage  by  the  death  of  that 
great  comedian,  my  friend,  John  Palmer.  This 
happened  to  him  while  acting  the  character  of  the 
Stranger,  and  he  was  struck  down  in  that  agonis- 
ing scene  in  the  fourth  act  between  himself  and 
Whitfield,  who  performed  Baron  Steinfort,  when 
about  to  answer  his  inquiry  after  the  former's 
children.  The  words  he  tried  in  vain  to  articulate 
were  these : 

"  Stra.     I  left  them  at  a  small  town  hard  by." 

But  this  was  so  little  calculated  for  effect,  that, 
still  keeping  to  the  baron  as  the  person  replied 
to,  Palmer  was  reported  to  have  said  to  him  : 
"  O  God,  God !  there  is  another,  and  a  better 
world."  But  the  saints  who  spread  this  precious 
falsehood  were  not  quite  wide  of  their  aim ;  for 
they  thus  appear  in  the  second  act  (not  the  fourth), 
and  are  not  spoken  to  Steinfort  even  there,  but  to 
the  Stranger's  servant,  Francis  : 

"Stra.     Have  you  forgotten  what  the  old  man  said  this 

morning  ? 
'  There  is  another  and  a  better  world  ! ' " 


MRS.   JORDAN  333 

So  that  poor  Palmer's  dramatic  life  was  two 
acts  longer,  at  least,  than  these  gloomy  owls 
screamed  it  to  have  been.  The  play  itself  was 
printed  at  Liverpool  upon  Palmer's  death,  and  the 
chief  purchasers  were  the  serious  persons  of  the 
evangelic  persuasion,  who  more  than  insinuated 
that  the  calamity  befallen  the  theatre  was  a  judg- 
ment on  profaneness,  and  used  the  play  itself  as 
a  text  to  sentence  the  players  to  perdition. 

The  truth  is  that  Palmer  had  recently  lost  his 
wife  and  a  favourite  child,  and  the  man's  distress, 
meeting  with  matter  so  congenial  in  his  profession, 
excited  a  convulsive  spasm  that  ended  him  in  a 
moment.  Messrs.  Hamerton,  Callan,  and  Mara 
were  the  persons  who  conveyed  the  lifeless  body 
from  the  stage  into  the  greenroom,  and  every 
effort  of  medical  skill  was  employed  for  the  space 
of  an  hour  in  vain.  The  announcement  then 
made  by  the  faculty  excited  the  heavy  sighs  of  the 
men  and  the  piercing  shrieks  of  the  women.  The 
impression  was  so  terrific  behind  the  curtain  that 
when  Mr.  Aickin,  the  manager,  came  forward  to 
announce  the  result  to  the  audience,  his  remark- 
ably manly  nerve  was  so  completely  overpowered 
by  his  horror  that  he  withdrew,  unable  to  articu- 
late a  single  syllable ;  and  they  had  to  learn  Mr. 


334  MRS.   JORDAN 

Palmer's  fate  from  Incledon,  scarcely  less  agitated 
than  Mr.  Aickin. 

Mr.  Garrick  had  slighted  Palmer  in  his  outset, 
and  said  that  he  never  would  make  an  actor ;  how- 
ever, this  judgment  he  lived  to  reverse.  I  can 
readily  believe  that  Palmer,  as  a  stripling,  might 
have  promised  nothing  but  a  showy  figure  at  his 
maturity.  He  was  an  actor  made  by  time  and 
practice,  not  a  genius  like  Henderson,  who  must 
at  once  be  Hamlet,  and  Benedick,  and  Richard, 
and  Falstaff,  or  nothing. 

I  do  not  think  Mrs.  Jordan  acted  anywhere 
this  summer  but  at  Richmond  ;  for  which  there 
appeared,  indeed,  to  be  sufficient  family  reasons. 


END    OF    VOLUME    I. 


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